Steven Universe - What If Lapis Stole Steven? - The Ocean Gem
by Auremberite
Summary: What if Mayor Dewey's actions had caused Steven to be raised by Lapis? How will this affect Garnet's relationship? Will Amethyst ever be the same? Can Pearl ever see Steven as more than Rose? Can Lapis save Steven from the threat of Homeworld? This story shows both character development and hard-packed action. Rated T for violence, though no language or suggestive themes.
1. The Mirror

**Author's Note: Hey Guys! I'm currently going through and re-editing every page of this so that the POV is clearer! So no more commenting about that! Message received! How the POV works is like this: I'll state the name of the person whose POV it is in the first 3 sentences of a paragraph. If I don't, then the POV stays the same from last chapter.**

Pearl: It was a bright and sunny day at the Temple at Beach City. Amethyst was eating mayonnaise by the jarful. Garnet was in her room, meditating. And Pearl? She was giving Steven, age four, some vegetables for lunch.

"No Pearl! I want cookie cats for lunch!" yelled Steven.

Pearl replied, "Well I don't know what human children normally eat, but Greg told me to feed you lots of vegetables."

Greg, Steven's father, had been given a music deal a month or so back. He had since performed five concerts, all of which had sold out with thousands of tickets each. But Greg had known that Steven would need not only a semi-structured childhood, but gem training too. So he left Steven at the temple. He'd be visiting at Christmas in six months, only to leave again.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I've never had cauliflower and lentil soup for lunch," Steven said with a pout.

The soup had been made with warm water and the first vegetables Pearl had seen at the super market. The discount section of the grocery store was at the front, piled with things no one wanted. Just like the cauliflower Pearl was now trying to feed Steven.

A knock came at the door. Pearl walked over, pondering who it could be. "I wonder if it's Greg. I wish he'd never come in the first place. He steals Rose from us and then leaves us with her baby son, with only a few tips on what to do. But no, it's fine. If Steven needs his diapers changed, saving the city from a corrupted gem can wait for later.

Pearl opened the door. "You're not Greg," Pearl said scornfully, looking at the town's recently elected mayor, Mayor Dewey.

Mayor Dewey coughed. "Hello, Beach City citizen! I'm here today to talk to you about-" he started.

Pearl glared at him. "Please leave. Human aren't allowed here." Pearl started to close the door, but Mayor Dewey stuck his foot in.

" _Actually_ , I'm here on business," he said.

Pearl sighed. "Are you finally going to take down that ridiculous statue of yourself in town? Do you need our help? I would be very glad to tear that hideous thing down," Pearl asked.

Mayor Dewey started to respond, looking a little hurt, but Pearl interrupted him. "Or are you going to tell us that you humans are finally going to take care of yourselves for once, so we don't have to save you? Or maybe you want to pay us because of all the times we've already saved you so that we can finally take care of this human child. Or maybe-" Pearl said, her voice beginning to take on an edge.

Mayor Dewey hastily said, "Actually, I'm here _because_ of your… adopted child…" Mayor Dewey glanced at his hand, reading the smeared name he'd written there. "Steen." Mayor Dewey realized that it was smudged, so he did his best to recall the correct name. "I mean Steven. You haven't registered him for any sort of school, and the semester starts next month on September the first. It is the law that-."

Mayor Dewey was cut off by Pearl. "Oh yes, well if it's education you want, then I have his teacher right here." Pearl pulled out a silver mirror with a cracked, polished, blue teardrop stone on the back out of her gem.

"Ms. Pearl, a mirror can teach your child about what he looks like, but-" Mayor Dewey was cut off again.

"This mirror can show Steven any place in the world. Here, I'll even show you. _Anything to get you out of here faster_. Mirror, show me Mayor Dewey's statue in town." The mirror responded to Pearl's command, and showed a picture of Mayor Dewey's large statue being spray painted golden.

Mayor Dewey's eyes sparkled for a moment, but then he shook his head. "I'm sorry, but this mirror isn't-" Mayor Dewey was cut off again.

"I've shown you his teacher, now please leave." commanded Pearl.

Mayor Dewey started to argue. "Ms. Pearl, please try to understand that-"

Pearl sighed and yelled into the other room. "Garnet, this human won't leave us alone."

Garnet walked over to the doorway, looked at Mayor Dewey, and threw him into the shallows of the ocean. Mayor Dewey shook his head, spat out water, and said "Whatever. I'm not paid enough for this." and walked away.

Steven ran over to Pearl and Garnet. Is it true? Am I going to be taught by that mirror?"

Pearl looked at Garnet and said, "Well, I suppose so."

Steven grabbed the mirror, laughed, and ran off towards the beach, singing "Yay learning! I got a new toy!" Pearl smiled lovingly at Rose- no, she smiled lovingly at Steven. They weren't the same, she told herself. But she couldn't shake the feeling. Did she only love the child because of the mother? Could she ever see them as two different people? She walked away from the window and warped to the rose covered battle field.


	2. Ocean Gem

**I finally fixed one of Ruby's pronouns that has literally been bothering me for the past nine months that felt good omg.**

Steven:

Steven finally arrived at the beach. "Okay mirror," He said, "Show me… Me! Errr… sorry, my name is Steven Universe. So show me Steven Universe!"

The mirror showed a clip of him watching Pearl talk to Mayor Dewey, sitting on the kitchen stool, sucking his thumb.

"Yeah! Now show me that time I set all of those rubber ducks I ordered in the mail free!" The mirror showed nothing. "Okay, I guess you can only show me things that you've seen. But I don't know what you've seen, so I don't know what to do. Why don't you show me something interesting?"

The mirror shook just a bit, and then showed him a sequence of what he'd just said. "Steven… set… me… free…"

Young Steven smiled and said, "I don't know, will you still be my friend even if I set you free?"

The mirror responded with a clip of him saying, "Yeah!"

Steven grinned. "Okay! How do I set you free?" The mirror showed him a clip of a boy grabbing the blue stone in the mirror, and pulling it out.

Steven said, "Okay, let's do this!", and so he grabbed the stone, and started to pull. The ocean rose around him, forming a circle around him. He almost had it…

oO0Oo

Pearl:

Pearl had just warped back, and was cleaning up Steven's soup when she heard the rush of water. She ran to the window and saw Steven being surrounded by a wall of the ocean, still holding the mirror.

She cried, "STEVEN!", and ran outside, closely followed by Garnet and Amethyst.

oO0Oo

Steven:

Steven grabbed the stone, and with a final burst of strength, popped it out of the mirror. The wall of water around him dropped, and the stone started to glow. A woman with dark blue hair, blue skin, and a blue dress formed, with the stone embedded in her back. "Thank you Steven!" she exclaimed. The Crystal Gems finally caught up to Steven.

oO0Oo

Garnet:

Garnet knew that this gem was from Homeworld. They'd only had one Lapis Lazuli on their side during the rebellion, and she'd watched that one get shattered in the final battle.

"Steven! Back away from her!" she cried out, hoping the toddler would understand.

oO0Oo

Lapis:

"I'm Lapis Lazuli, and you can't keep me trapped here any longer!" she cried.

She was free! After thousands of years, she was free! She focused her power and summoned two large hands of water. Steven's eyes shimmered at the sight. I guess they didn't have many Lapis Lazulis here on Earth. I bet the rebellion shattered them all. These gems here in front of her - they were evil. But not Steven, though. She could save him from becoming a monster like these four. Using her water hands, she smacked the fusion away into the ocean, and then grabbed the other two and froze the hands, trapping them. Just like she'd been.

"Hey Steven, come with me," She asked, hoping that he didn't hear the desperation in her voice.

"Okay." He simply replied.

He was innocent, and didn't know that he'd be leaving everything that he'd ever known. It didn't matter. She used her water wings to fly them up, and then she plunged into the ocean. She created an instant air bubble around them, so that Steven could breathe, but they could still be under cover.

"Stop! I won't let you take him!" Garnet cried, plunging underwater after them.

oO0Oo

Garnet:

Garnet had to stop Lapis. She couldn't bear to lose Steven. She reared up to punch Lapis, but…

"I… can't"

Her punch fell short.

"Sapphire, we have to!"

"We watched the old Lapis, the Crystal Gem Lapis from thousands of years ago, get shattered. I can't! It's the war all over again, Ruby!"

"That's the war! This is for Steven! For Rose!"

"I knew a Lapis from before the war. She meant more to me than she did to you, Ruby. She was my last connection to home."

"If you're not going to help, then I will!" Ruby shouted.

Garnet slipped away.

oO0Oo

Ruby:

I stood in the bubble, fuming. Sapphire – well she sat down and huddled in a ball, crying. But I had to help Steven. I shot three fireballs at Lapis. With a bored look on her face, she raised a wall of water.

Strategy… I needed a strategy to beat her. But Sapphire was the one who would think of the plans. I stood there helpless for a moment.

Lapis turned the water above me into ice shards, and then let them fall onto me. I had to save Steven. But I needed Sapphire. Fading… everything is fading.

oO0Oo

Sapphire:

"Ruby!" I cried.

Lapis walked over and picked up her gem. She then came over to me and summoned a water knife. It turned to ice. I put my hands over my head to protect myself.

"Ruby and Sapphire, the fearless fusion. But without Ruby, Sapphire here can't fight. She can only see." Lapis said.

But I _could_ see what would happen next. She would pop me and take Steven. The knife came down just over my gem.

oO0Oo

Lapis:

I looked at the two gems, one in each hand. I'd left Steven in an air bubble adjacent to this one. He wouldn't have seen me poof his friend. I couldn't shatter them, though. I would never sink to their level. I dropped them into the water, and commanded a water hand to throw them onto the beach.

I entered Steven's bubble. "You ready to go on an adventure?" I asked.

"Yeah! Let's go!" he yelled. And so we did.


	3. The Story

**Author's Note: "Syrc" Town is "Crys" backwards, which stands for Crystal. Also the Ocean Town thing references the sign seen in "Last One Out of Beach City" which says "Ocean Town – No Longer On Fire" and the episode (S1 E51) where Mayor Dewey is comforting the citizens about the giant green hand and says "At least we're not Ocean Town, am I right?" Anyways this chapter is the worst one I've written. If you don't like a chapter filled with talking, then just skip it. You won't miss much.**

"Can you pass the soda, Lapis?" Steven asked me. We were sitting in the kitchen of our house. Well, not so much of a house as a cave in a cliffside that was very nicely decorated. I'd used a giant water hand to carve it out years ago. About eight years ago, when we first settled here in Syrc Town.

We'd started out in Ocean Town. Ruby had found us there, and burned down most of the city. So I'd traveled to many towns, but people kept chasing us out, and the gems were always chasing. After about a year, I'd used my water wings to fly us far away into Syrc Town. I'd collapsed from exhaustion, and Steven, who was on my back, drooled a bit onto my gem, which healed it.

I'd then used water to carve out a nice cave in a cliff. It now has windows and a porch, and it's really nice. I designed it to look like Steven's old house, except there was a basin of water to replace the warp pad, and when the sunlight hits the pool, the entire house shimmers with blue light. The furniture was made of stone, not wood, and there weren't couches, just another pool of water that I used to teach Steven how to swim in. My room had a normal door and was not magical. The walls of the house were all made of a light blueish-grey stone, and the windows were tinted slightly blue. It's not much, but at least I – at least we have a home. Steven is now thirteen, and I haven't really changed at all.

"Hey, Lapis? You there?" Steven asked. I realized that I'd been lost in thought. "Yeah, I'm good. Here, you can have my soda." I handed him my Sprite. "Listen, Lapis? I've been lost in thought a bit as well. I've been having these dreams, and I keep seeing these three girls… a red one, a white one, and a purple one. Are they… my memories? You've never told me much about my past, or my father. Was he… bad… to you? Were those three girls bad to you? Were they gems too? What I'm… really asking is can you tell me about my past?" Steven asked, looking sad.

This was a topic I had avoided. I'd known who his father was. There was a picture on the table Steven was eating at on the day I was freed. Later, I saw him in a magazine as a rock star. He didn't seem so bad. But the gems… if he found out about them…

"Well, Steven, your father is a celebrity, and never had time for you. So I moved, and never told him where. His name is Greg Universe, and he's a rock star. Those three girls…" I paused, not knowing how to spin it. "…chased after us, trying to punish us for leaving. They'd trapped me for thousands of years, and I had to leave." I finished, letting out a deep breath. I wasn't telling him all of the truth, but I wasn't lying either.

"I'll tell you the story of how we escaped, what about that?" I said, hoping that this would satisfy him. He nodded, so I started. "I had flown a couple hundred miles south, and so I stopped to rest. The purple one suddenly grabbed my leg with her whip, and pulled me towards her. I formed a water knife, and stabbed her as she pulled me in, and she poofed. Then, the white one started blasting me with her spear, and so I shot an ice wall at her, and when she blasted it, I made the ice shards attack her, and so she poofed as well." I paused to take a breath.

"Wait, they poofed? So they were gems?" asked Steven. I hesitantly responded "Yes. Now do you want me to finish the story I'm just going to assume you do and continue talking without letting you answer now here's the story."

"The red one shot multiple fireballs at me, and so I just incased myself in a water bubble-" Steven interrupted. "Wow! I bet she got mad! That's really smart!" I smiled. Steven really hadn't grown up to be like them. He… loved me. That's more than anyone else had ever done. I ruffled his hair. "Can I finish? I was in my water bubble, and I walked right up to her. She threw a little tantrum, and so I just made a water arm and punched her, and guess what? She poofed, too. I used water to make a hollow in a cliff, and I froze their gems in ice, so they never reformed. Then I came here. The End." I'd left out Sapphire. She just sat on the sidelines, crying, until I threw an ice knife at her. I froze her, too. Steven said "Wow, you're great at fighting! Can you teach me?" I smiled. I had no clue what his powers were, or how to teach him. But, to reassure him, I smiled and said "Sure, dude. First thing tomorrow." What was I going to do?

It felt like an eternity. There was no warmth, but there sometimes was light. No form for her to convey her thoughts through. She couldn't remember much, it had been so long. What was her name again? Ruby. But then one day it changed. Slowly, days became warmer. Then, one day, she felt exposure. She formed as quickly as she could. She looked around. The others were in the ice. She summoned fire, and shot it at the ice block, hoping that she wouldn't hurt the other gems. The other three formed. Sapphire ran up to her. "Ruby! You saved us! How long were we out for?" I looked around. New buildings had been constructed around us, Lapis was gone, and all signs of our battle had vanished. "I don't know." I said. "But we have to find Steven. It's our only hope for things to be right." We didn't just have to find Steven. We had to shatter Lapis for what she'd done.


	4. The Ship By the Sea

**Wowo! Thank you guys for your support! I'm writing most of this at night. The title of this chapter does not mean a literal ship. It means an OTP ship. I really don't know what I'm going to do with Lapis and her famous one-liners. My humor style is literally taking people's typos and such and never letting it go. Ever. I tried to include humor at the end. Tell me if you guys want more or less humor. I'm trying pretty hard to keep the personalities of all of the characters. One line I wanted to include at the end was "Connie carried all of her 34 books off the beach, making only one trip. When Steven asked her about this, all she would say was 'hoNOR, STEVEN. ITS ALL ABOUT HONOR'" But I had to sacrifice humor for the plotline making sense. :/ I couldn't find a way to start off the first paragraph with a character's name, so the first 3 paragraphs is from Amethyst's perspective.**

We had gone into town to see how long we'd been out. Eight and a half years. Steven would be twelve or thirteen by now. She missed him. She missed the way he'd call her Amy, because he couldn't pronounce her full name. She missed his silly little songs. She missed the way he loved them despite who they were. She wasn't sure that Pearl didn't just miss Rose, or that Ruby and Sapphire weren't just angry at themselves. But I missed him.

We'd then gone back to the temple to discuss what our next move would be. "We have to split up to find him. We can cover more ground that way." Ruby had said. Sapphire replied "We need to stay together. We have strength together." Ruby suddenly became furious. "We might not have lost him if you'd been strong enough to help me. So I don't trust you anymore. I need to become strong on my own." Pearl had sided with Ruby. "The fastest way to find Steven is to split up." I had sided with Sapphire. "Even though we may go our separate ways, we still need to stay in touch, and stay close enough that if we find him, that we can fight Lapis together." I'd argued. They didn't listen.

Garnet had been our leader before we lost Steven. Now, we needed a new one. Ruby and Pearl refused. Ruby had told us "I don't want any of that! A leader would just boss us around. We'd have to take orders like a… a…" Sapphire finished his sentence. "A common foot soldier." Ruby was furious. "Is that all I am? A common foot soldier?" Sapphire became horrified at Ruby's reaction. "No! I was just finishing your sentence… just like we used to…"

Steven was walking around the beach, just like normal. But then he saw a girl sitting by the sea, her hair flowing behind her, the pages of her book fluttering in the wind… because she wasn't paying attention to her book. She was looking at the green human standing in front of her. "Where is he? Where is Rose Quartz?" the green girl yelled.

Steven ran and fetched Lapis. Lapis gasped. "That's a homeworld gem called Peridot! If she's looking for you, that's bad. Let's get out of here. Steven glanced over his shoulder and said "But that human girl…" Lapis tugged on his arm and said "Steven we have to get out of here. If homeworld finds out that I'm here, they might trap me in a mir- I mean they might hurt us." Steven glanced back suspiciously.

Peridot looked at the girl. "You have no clue who I'm talking about?" The girl frantically shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. Peridot sighed. "Then I have no use for you." Her limb enhancers started to power on. Laser spheres grew out of her fingertips. The girl braced herself for the worst.

Steven couldn't just watch. I threw his hand out, as if to reach for the girl, when suddenly, there was a flash of pink. A shield appeared from his arm and launched out like a Frisbee. It hit Peridot's arm just before she could fire. The laser sphere hit a tree. A moment later, the tree was gone. Peridot screamed. Lapis jumped in front of Steven, and started to use her water powers. Peridot was quicker, and she fired another laser blast at Lapis. Lapis tried to dodge, but the blast sliced through her back. Lapis cried "Ow!", and fell on the ground. She didn't get up.

Steven jumped in front of the girl. "Leave here. It's over for you, 'Peridot'. Your big mistake was to hurt people just because they were in your way." Steven formed his shield. The girl blushed.

Peridot screeched. "You clods! How dare you! I'm here on important gem business! Hey – wait a sec! That's a gem's shield! That's Rose Quartz's shield! That must mean you're-" Peridot was cut off by Steven. "I'm Rose Quartz's son. Got a problem? Talk to the shield!" Steven flung his shield at Peridot. She poofed in a cloud of green smoke.

Steven smiled and held his hand out to the girl. "Hi. I'm Steven. I'm a bit magic." The girl gave a short snicker. "A 'bit' magic. You made pink light shields! That green lady had laser hands. Your friend over there is blue!" the girl exclaimed. Steven calmly replied "Well I mean she's a bit sad at the moment, but she's usually kinda happy. Most of the time she's hard to read, though." The girl laughed. "My name's Connie. I'm not magic, but I've read about magic in these books." She indicated the stack of books behind her. Steven smiled. "Then I guess it's time for you to read about me next. Too bad I can't read." Connie stopped laughing. "Steven, you can't read?" Steven shrugged. Connie fiercely replied "Then I'll teach you. Meet me here in two days." She gathered her seven large books and walked off into the distance. Lapis smirked. She turned around, still smiling. "My little hero. I ship it." Blood was dripping off of her back onto the sand.


	5. The Leader

**Hey Guys! Thanks for all of your support! I'm really hoping to have Amethyst have a personal crisis this chapter. And what about Perry? No plans with her, but I'm hoping for her to be a source of comic relief.**

Steven walked with Lapis off the beach. He was holding Peridot's gem. "What do we do with this, Lapis?" Lapis turned around quickly. "Steven! You mean you didn't bubble it? She could reform at any moment!" Lapis quickly took the gem from Steven, and bubbled it.

Steven pouted. Lapis looked back at him. "Oh. Sorry – gem training. Right. Well what you just had is what we call a shield. You shield was pink. Most shields are not pink. Maybe we could add some skulls or blood to your shield. Yeah-" Steven laughed. "Lapis, come on, I can't add skulls to my shield!" Lapis thought about this for a moment. "Yeah, you're right. Where are we supposed to get skulls in this economy?" They both laughed. Lapis was happy; Steven had turned out okay. He'd never be a monster like the Crystal Gems. She ruffled his hair as they headed back to the house.

I sat with Sapphire while Ruby and Pearl were discussing ways to get Steven back. Sapphire suddenly looked at me. "Amethyst, you know that you must be our leader now. It is the inevitable." I looked up in shock. "No way! I'm like… the least experienced of all three… of all four of us. I… can't." Sapphire flinched.

How did Amethyst know that those were the exact words that I had used when Ruby and I were trying to get Steven back? I couldn't tell. I couldn't let anyone know that I'd lost my future vision. But Amethyst had to lead. Ruby would never trust me, and if Pearl or Ruby lead, it would mean the destruction of the team. Amethyst had to. No matter how much it would destroy her, the team had to stay together. "Amethyst, you have to lead." I said. She yelled, "I can't do this, Sapphire! It can't be me!" She looked scared; panicked even. She had tears in her eyes. How could I not have seen this?

Ruby and Pearl were staring at me like I was crazy. Sapphire looked a little apprehensive. "Amethyst…?" Sapphire said. I flinched. I… snapped, and yelled "Ugh, you guys! Stop this! It's driving us all inSANE!" I realized that I must look a little insane myself. "Uhhh… I mean…" I stuttered. They were all looking at me. Was I already something of a leader? Did they already look to me for strength? I ran from the room.

I'd run into my room in the temple, but gotten bored, and gone into the bubble room. The colorful spheres shimmered in the dull light. I was still mad a Sapphire. I pulled out my whip, and started hitting the walls to vent my anger. I pulled my whip back for a final blow, but it hit a bubble, popping it. A gem clattered to the ground. It started to form…

Rose. Rose. Rose. The only thoughts that had been going through my head for the past nine years. How I could Iose her twice? First to Greg, and now to Lapis. I heard a scream coming from the other room. Ruby and I ran in, and found Amethyst standing in front of a corrupted gem monster.

I saw the others come into the room. Pearl yelled to me. "Amethyst, what happened?" I ignored her, and yelled "Ruby, you charge head on, and Pearl, you go around back as a diversion. I'll use my whip to unbalance it!" I used my whip to grab the monster's leg and pull it down. The monster looked at me, ignoring Pearl, who was circling it. Suddenly, she stabbed it with her spear. Ruby bubbled the gem. I turned around, and saw Sapphire standing in the door. She nodded at me. I had to keep these people together. They're the only people in this world who were like me. I couldn't let this fall apart.


	6. The Fall

**Plans? I don't need any plans! I probably do but whatever! PLEASE tell me if you want me to add a new gem (not in TV Show) to the series. I'm considering it at the moment. Also, The REAL plotline begins here. Drama. Woo. Anyways, I've altered Chapter 4 in a MAJOR WAY. Please go and check it out or this chapter won't make sense. If you guys are thinking "Steven wouldn't be that sarcastic. Lapis wouldn't be this funny. She'd have more one-liners." I think that their senses of humor rubbed off on each other. Lapis is more cheerful, but Steven, being raised by Lapis, is a bit more sarcastic and slightly more downcast.**

"Alright Steven, today we're actually going to train your powers. Over the past month, I've collected and bubbled a few gem monsters. Get out your shield, please." Steven replied with a laugh. "Okay, 'teacher' Lapis." I had collected more than a few gems. One day, I had seen Ruby wandering around in the town square. I realized that I had to keep Steven safe. So every time I saw a corrupted gem, I would bubble it. It wasn't easy. I had a long scratch on my back, right under my gem that had come from Peridot, from way back when she shot me. Steven had been worried, but I'd told him that I'd be fine. It wasn't. It didn't heal, despite his healing spit. Was his healing spit broken? Or was I hurt worse than I'd feared?

Since they had training today, she'd set a wild monster loose back at Beach City to distract the Crystal Gems. It was a big one, too. "Alright, Steven, let's start with just activating your bubble. Here, let's practice under the threat of death." She said. Steven showed his concerns. "Uh… Lapis?" he said. I gave him no time to have second thoughts. I released a yellow gem monster out of its bubble.

The gem monster was huge. What was Lapis thinking? Was this her revenge for me peeing in the house pool that one time? Okay like three times. Maybe ten times. Whatever. I bubbled myself just in time, as the monster crashed into me. He kept head butting the bubble, and so I braced for the worst. Suddenly, spikes popped out of my bubble. The monster popped. I smirked, Lapis smiled. "Nice one, Steven." She said. It was time to fight.

He's a natural. Steven has taken down seven of these guys in the time it took me to take out two. I let out the eighth monster. It looks like a corrupted Ruby. It kept shooting fire at Steven. He ran behind a tree. "Lapis! Help!" he cried. I shot a jet of water at the monster. Suddenly, I felt a slice of pain go through my back. The water jet dropped before it could hit the monster. I collapsed, and the last thing I saw was a ball of fire hurdling at my gem.

I'd seen the monster out of the window, and I'd called everyone. Sapphire didn't fight, but she'd watch. I'd called out to the others. Over the last few missions, I'd really taken charge. But of course, no one asks me how I like being a leader. Doesn't matter anymore. I'm not important, only the team is. That's what Sapphire would tell me, anyways. "You must make sacrifices for the good of the team, Amethyst." She'd tell me. It didn't matter anymore.

I called out to the others. "You guys just use long range attacks while I whip its leg and smash it onto a rock or something." This was the eleventh attack this week, and we were all exhausted. They both slowly circled around the monster in opposite directions, while I rushed head on and grabbed its leg with a whip. I pulled as hard as I could, but it didn't poof. It hit me back onto the ground, and I got up again with a groan.

The others kept circling, and I stood there, waiting for an opening. I whipped its torso this time, and I latched on. I jumped onto its back, and tried to squeeze it, but it wouldn't pause. Pearl called up to me. "Amethyst, just let go, you're not strong enough for this. Let us handle it." They thought I was weak. "I'm strong enough for this! Let me have this. I've been leading you guys pretty well these last few weeks." I said, pleading with them. Ruby yelled back at me, saying "You're not strong enough. We never made you our leader. You're just a defective soldier who thinks she's better than everyone." My face dropped. Was that… all I was, all they saw me as? I loosened my hold on the whip. The monster reeled around and hit me in my gem. I heard a crack, and I went flying across the ocean. The last thing I saw was Ruby, with a look of regret in her eyes. I retreated into my gem.


	7. The Waking

**How will things end for the two "Fallen" Gems? (hence the title of Chapter 6.) Anyways, give me feedback. Just keep it positive. Keep it constructive. Thanks for reading. I guess** **by now I should've mentioned Greg, too. Again, I can't find a way to start off the first paragraph with the character's name. The first two paragraphs are narrated by Steven.**

I gasped. "Lapis, no!" There wasn't enough time to throw my shield. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see her gem get destroyed. I tried to summon any power left in me to save her. I heard a woosh, and I opened my eyes. A large thicket of branches appeared in front of her gem, blocking the fireball. "They're thorn branches…" I whispered to myself. The monster turned towards me, a fireball already forming in his mouth. Suddenly, a purple stone fell from the sky and hit the monster in the head. The monster was distracted, and I used the diversion to my advantage. I threw my shield at it, and it poofed.

I walked over to the monster, and bubbled its gem. I looked at the purple object that saved me. I saw it half buried in the sand. "It's… a gem! But it's cracked. I have to take it back to the house." But first I had to help Lapis. I ran over to where she stood – to where she was sprawled out on the sand, dead to the world. Nothing looked wrong, but she looked like she was in pain. I have to save them both.

The endless pain wasn't the worst thing right now. It was what Ruby had said before I… I cracked! That's what this eternal agony was. But Ruby had called me defective. Was that how they all saw me? Had Garnet seen me that way? Had Rose? Would Steven have seen me as defective if we'd raised him? Amethyst, the defective quartz. If I'd had a form, I would've cried.

I brought the two gems inside, with Lapis in my arms and the purple gem on her chest. I'd then lain the purple one on a pillow, and placed Lapis facedown into the pool of water so I didn't hurt her gem or back. Gems don't need air, right? I walked over to the purple one and spat on it so I didn't hurt her gem even more by touching it. It glowed, and the gem was healed. I walked over to Lapis and tried the same thing. Her wound didn't change. Would my only gem friend ever be okay? Or would the purple gem have to take her place?

I couldn't… I was formed, but not responsive, moving, feeling. I was… what did the humans call it? Unconscious? No, more like… comatose. My back… the pain… I couldn't move… I knew what was wrong, though. The laser beam from Peridot was anti gem technology. It was a miracle that I even still held my form. Was I stronger than the average Lapis Lazuli? It didn't matter right now. To be conscious again, I'd have to be poofed. But could Steven figure this out? And even if he did, could he bring himself to do it? He loved me, I knew that. But I couldn't protect him like this. It felt like being trapped in the mirror, but worse. I can't take this pain anymore. It's sheer agony. I hoped Steven knew that I loved him…

 _I felt pain, I felt… fine? Was I healed? I had to wake up, I had to_ "Wake Up!" I yelled. There was a boy standing in front of me. I was healed, I was formed. "Hi purple gem! I'm Steven!" he said. I looked around, frantically. I had to escape from this human. I started for the door, but he put his hand on my shoulder. "Please, wait." He pleaded. I grabbed his hand, and threw him. He fell into a pool of water next to… Lapis Lazuli? "HER!" I screamed, and dove for the traitor. The boy ran in front of me and pulled out a shield… Rose's shield! That means… "You're Steven!" He blocked my tackle and smiled. "I would've told you that if you'd just waited a moment before attacking her. I saved you for being shattered, and you saved both me and Lapis, so please, hear me out.

Lapis looked up. She wasn't awake… she was dreaming. She saw… Homeworld! She saw two gems talking to each other. A green one and a tall yellow one. "Nephrite, please! Hear me out." The yellow gem was pleading to the green one. "Let me be your escort to Earth. The Peridot you sent hasn't come back yet. It could be dangerous. Please, I have to go there. I must fight Rose Quartz. It's what I've dreamed of." The Nephrite responded. "Jasper, please, I'm only a pilot, but I can handle myself. But, if it's to fight Rose Quartz… then okay. We'll arrive on Earth in nine months." The Jasper smiled, and both gems walked off. We were in danger! A Jasper was going to shatter Rose! That's Steven!

I was sitting on the couch with Pearl and Sapphire. We'd been here for hours, a map in front of us, trying to figure out where Amethyst could've landed. I wasn't helping much, though. Rubies like myself aren't known for being smart. I slammed my fist down onto the table. "We HAVE to find her. It's my fault that she's gone. I… let my anger get out of hand. I… hurt her too much." I say, stuttering at the end. Amethyst was only trying to help us, and I hurt her. Sapphire pats my leg. "We all make mistakes." I suddenly realized what she meant. She messed up by not saving Steven back when they were escaping. And, like a jerk, I pushed her away out of anger. "I… I'm so sorry. I should've forgiven you, I should've been kinder to Amethyst – Is this whole thing my fault?" I started screaming. Sapphire put her arm around me and spoke in a soothing voice. "No, it's my fault, too. I couldn't save Steven just because of my feelings for a completely different gem, and I pushed Amethyst to be in charge when she couldn't handle it. It's equally our faults." I gave a small smile. "Let's just say it's Garnet's fault." We held hands and went outside to rediscover our old friend.


	8. Learn To Love Yourself

**In case you haven't caught on, in the TV show, Bismuth mentions that Nephrites pilot ships. Centipeetle was a ship pilot. The Nephrite in this story is what Centipeetle is. It's my way of adding a new gem without actually creating a new one. This chapter might finally have Peridot… maybe. I have a bit of the plotline planned out, but most of this is made by me going: "let's write words and hope it isn't horrible and that I shouldn't burn it lol am I right yes I am lets go" Anyways, this chapter's gonna be full of character development for Amethyst. You guys might cry if you're really emotional. I definitely didn't cry. The tear streaks on my face are from… pollen. Ah yes, the indoor pollen is thick this month… in the early winter…**

I sat down on a pillow in Steven's room. He sat down on his bed. "So." He started. "You seem to know me, but I don't know you. What's your name?" He didn't know me at all. I couldn't believe it. He must've seen the look on my face, so he added, "I feel like I've seen you before, but I don't know where. A dream, maybe? But if I really did see you, I guess it wasn't a real dream." I sighed. "My name is Amethyst."

"My name is Amethyst. I'm a Crystal Gem. Garnet, Pearl, and I like… used to take care of you. Then one day, Lapis took you away." He looked started. "Lapis said she took me away to protect me." Of course Lapis wouldn't have told him the truth. "So, why don't you, like, tell me a bit about yourself?" I asked. Who would he be now? He'd saved me, sure. But he hadn't known who I was. Lapis could've – and would've - crushed me in an instant if she'd been awake.

"Well, I'm Steven. I can fight well, but I mostly just hang out with Lapis or my friend Connie." He stated. "But what about you? You haven't told me about your personality. You look really cool, like with sweatpants and a tank top, and pretty hair. You seem like a great person." I gave a small smile. He was so like Rose. I could love him now, but would he love me once he knew that I was defective?

"Well, there's not much to me. I'm… short." I hesitated. Who was I? Ever since Steven had left, I'd been a leader, sure, but that wasn't who I really was. I was usually chill and cool, but I had been the opposite of that for so long, that now I guess I wasn't really anyone. Steven interrupted my thoughts, and said "Amethyst, you're crying."

Those CLODS! They'd be sorry that they'd bubbled me! When my anti-gem laser blast hit the rouge Lapis Lazuli, she hadn't poofed. She must be stronger than the average gem. The Lapis Lazuli in question should be severely damaged by now. If even a part of the blast had hit her gem, it would eventually crack, and subsequently shatter. If she's poofed and her gem was hit by the laser, then she'll never reform! Oh yes, they'll be sorry that they ever messed with Peridot!

Amethyst looks… hurt. Mentally hurt. I've never really seen this kind of pain before, except in Lapis occasionally. When she's like this, she pushes me away. "Hey, Amethyst, what's wrong? You can tell me. It'll be okay." I say, trying to comfort her. She wipes away her tears. "I'm fine, Steven. No worries." I can tell that something's wrong. "Hey, how's about we go outside and have some fun, and afterwards we can talk?" The corner of her mouth goes up a bit. "Okay dude, but don't expect me to get all gushy." We walk out of the house, side by side.

Amethyst and I walk over to the beach. "Okay, this game is called volleyball." I say. I concentrate my powers, and branches grow out of the ground in the shape of a net. I'd done some training while Amethyst and Lapis were out. I explain the rules to her, and we get started. I serve the ball, and she tries to position herself to get it, but it ends up hitting herself in the face. "Ugh!" she shouts, and uses her strength to hit the ball out over the ocean. I laugh, and eventually she does, too. I say "Okay, I guess volleyball isn't your thing, then. Let's just run around!" She grins. "Finally, something unstructured. This is more my style." We both run as fast as we can around the beach.

After a full day, we head back into the house. "Alright Amethyst, it's been a good day. You don't have to talk to me today if you don't want." Steven says. I sigh. I could never avoid Rose, and I can't shy away from her son. I have to try to bridge the gap that Lapis created, even if it means hurting myself in the process. I have to do what's best for the team.

"I mean – what do you want to know, dude?" I ask, pretending to be indifferent. He replied, saying "Amethyst - You mentioned before that you're short. Why is that so important – or bad – to you? Why haven't you even offered to go back to see the others? Why is it hard to talk about yourself?" He was pretty good at figuring out what was wrong with me. There's a lot of that.

"I mean – when Lapis stole you, Garnet… couldn't be our leader anymore. I used to be the chill, reckless one in the group. But now, I don't know who I am." I hope this will satisfy him, but he asks a follow up question. "Why would you guys losing a leader change you that much?" I pause. "Because Sapphire pressured me to become the leader for the good of our team. I – I wasn't ready, I didn't want this. But she couldn't be leader, so she forced it onto me. I tried to lead, but I always felt... like I was failing, like I was slipping away from who I am. I'm still confused, I don't know who I am, who I'm supposed to be. I just try to do what's best for everyone else… but I don't even know what's best for me…" I trail off as Steven wipes a tear from my face.

Steven presses me forwards, saying "It's okay, you got this. Tell me why you can't go home.", But I can't keep going, I can't tell him what's wrong, he'll think that I'm weak, that I'm someone he shouldn't be near. I… can't. I let out a scream of frustration. Steven gives me a small smile; he's acting strong for me. Why? I don't deserve it. Steven speaks up. "It's okay, if you can't handle it, then stop. Take care of yourself. There are people who will always love you for who you are, no matter who that is. You're worth it, you're always worth it." I curl up into a ball. Steven hugs me, and I let myself fall asleep.


	9. The Green Gem's Escape

**Last chapter was pretty emotional. Amethyst has been taught by Sapphire to put herself beneath everyone else, and Steven tries to get her to talk about herself. In the TV show, she's insecure, but here, it's worse. If you readers feel like no one loves you, just like Amethyst feels, then just know that I love you. I don't know who are, but I still love you. So your count is up to a minimum of 1. Someone will always love you. I think I'll give you an emotional break, though. For now… I'm purposefully leaving the Crystal Gems out of this at the moment. This Chapter is about half filler, half action.**

I wake up to see tear streaks on my face. It's going to be okay, I tell myself. For the past two days, Steven has been teaching me how to love myself. He just assumed that I needed a break from talking about new stuff, though, and I'm glad for that. He knew that it could harm my mental health, which is the most important thing. Or so he tells me. "Amethyst, you're the most important thing right now." He would say. I didn't really believe him.

I walk into the kitchen, and find him eating breakfast. "Hey, dude." I say, as I sit down and ruffle his hair. "Amethyst, cut that out!" he says with a laugh. "I just combed my hair!" I grin at him. "What do you wanna do today?" He asks, taking charge so that I don't have to. Maybe I needed to get away from the gems, after all. "Let's see if we can help Lapis today." I say. He frowns. "Normally I'd say no, because you need to learn how to help yourself instead of others, but I think you're right. She hasn't woken up, and it doesn't look like she will anytime soon." He says. I steal a glance at her. I'd used to hate her for stealing Steven, but based on what Steven says, she sounds… nice. I mostly feel pity for her now.

After a long period of nothingness, I see another scene. It's the house. I see… Steven, sitting down, glancing out of the window. The door opens and it's… Amethyst! Wait, Steven doesn't look scared, he looks…happy. Amethyst says something, and Steven laughs. I see my lifeless body in the mini pool. I look… horrible. There's a bandage wrapped around my torso, covering my injury. You can just barely see my Lapis Lazuli gem. The two of them discuss something. They walk over to me. Steven starts to undo the bandage and-. Sheer pain rips through my body. I try to yell at them to stop, but they don't. They can't hear me. I realize that I should try to move some water. I try my hardest, and my gem starts to glow. They gasp, and stand back. Steven cries out "Lapis!" and I try harder. I must, for him. A sphere of water begins to rise from the pool. The strain is nearly killing me. But I have to try, or Steven could die. I drop the water. It's too much. Even in this state of mind, I lose consciousness from the strain… I can't think, I can't see… Just emptiness. My last thought is that Amethyst has replaced me…

Lapis could see us… And she really tried to communicate. And once the water bubble fell, her gem formed a tiny crack. She must've really tried hard to talk to us. I healed her gem, and then I turned to Amethyst. "This is no ordinary injury, Steven. Even for us gems." Amethyst tells me. "We have to try to help her. I've known her for years. We have to try something." I say loudly. Amethyst hesitates before she responds. "Well, dude, how'd she even get like this?" I explain to her the situation with Peridot. "Then why don't you just ask Peridot?" she says. I gasp. "Why didn't I think of this We walk into Lapis' room and find about seventeen bubbled gems. "Wow, nice collection." Amethyst says. Ignoring her, I say "There it is!", and I point at Peridot's gem.

"Ready, Amethyst?" Steven asks me. I prepare my whip, and nod at Steven. He pops her bubble. Peridot forms, laughing. "Ahahaha those clods…" Peridot trails off as she sees us. "Those clods are right in front of me." Steven bravely yells at Peridot. "Alright Peridot, we know that you know how to heal Lapis!" Peridot looked at him strangely. "Yes, you are correct." Steven stutters. "Wha- uh… Then tell us how!" Peridot laughs, and says "You clods! Why would I just tell you, just to be bubbled again? I'll make a bargain with you. I'll tell you how to save your little friend if you promise to set me free."

I'm about to agree, when Steven says "You'll just contact Homeworld! No way!" I shoot a look at Steven, and say "Actually, we destroyed all forms of communication to Homeworld." Peridot threw a temper tantrum. "You CLODS!" Steven interrupts her. "Do you want to accept the deal or not?" She stops screaming, and says "Alright, fine. I'll just find another way. You'll need to poof Lapis in order to cure her. Bye!" Peridot runs out of the room, and she takes five bubbled gems with her. Steven yells "Stop!", and runs after her. I knew this was a bad idea. Peridot sees us coming, and pops the bubbles onto the sandy beach. The monsters begin to reform. I draw my three-tipped whip. Steven pulls out his shield. We charge.

We've popped all but two of the monsters. I charge one of the monsters. I spin into a ball, and roll around it, wrapping my whip around its torso, and I pull. I jump onto its back, and pull harder. It doesn't poof. I'm reminded of the last time this happened. Ruby's words echoed in my head. "You're just a defective soldier." I let go, and the gem monster kicks me far away, into the soft sand. I lay there, not wanting to think. Wishing I had been poofed.

"Amethyst!" I cried. Something happened, something's wrong. She's scared, she's sad. I have to help her. I go over to her, and form a bubble around us. I can't defeat these two monsters on my own. I have to talk to her. "Amethsyt…"I trail off, not knowing where to start. The monsters are bashing our bubble. The moment they've reared back to hit again, I pop spikes out of my shield. They both poof. I drop the bubble.

I look up at Steven, tear running down my face. "Do you know why I never went back to the temple?" I ask, still rolled over on my side. He shakes his head. "We were fighting a gem monster, and Ruby told me that all they saw me as was a defect, that they hadn't trusted me to be leader, and that I'd done all of this for nothing." I stop, not going farther. I'd put myself as a second priority, and so had they.

"It's going to be okay." I say. She shoots me a look that says "Steven, no.", but I continue anyways. "I'm here, and I love you. You're not defective. I'm short too, but I'm not defective. We can both be short together. And you never have to go back to the others if you don't want." Amethyst smiles. "No, I don't think I'll go back for a while. I get what Lapis was going through, being trapped for so long. I don't want to be stuck with those people." I finish, and Steven is smiling. "Speaking of Lapis, you heard what Peridot said. We… have to poof her." I continue, and Steven's face falls. "Amethyst… I… can't hurt her any more than she is." I ruffle his hair. "Doing it will save her. She might not be in so much pain." I say. We walk back inside the house.

Steven has been sitting by Lapis for two days. I walk over to him, breakfast in hand. "Hey, Steven. You… ready to do it?" I ask, setting his breakfast down. He shakes his head without turning. "Amethyst, I don't know if I'll ever be ready." He told me. I was going to let Steven do the honors, but he still wanted to find another way. A loud crash came from outside. We heard the words "Lapis Lazuli, prepare to be shattered!" I turned to Steven. "It's the Crystal Gems! We have to get out of here!


	10. The Escape

**Ten Chapters and Over 1,000 Views, 250 visitors! Thanks! This tenth chapter is going to be full of action! The last few chapters have been building up to Amethyst's insecurities and Lapis' peril. Garnet is back together again, but I've been skimming on Pearl. Like only one small paragraph besides the first chapter of Pearl dialogue. But this chapter is going to change thing forever. Steven will meet the rest of the gems, and Amethyst will meet them with slightly higher self-esteem than when she left. But PLEASE, guys, leave a review on this. I have no clue about how anyone feels. But let's get this train wreck – I mean let's get this show on the road :D Starting this paragraph off is gonna be Steven.**

They were here. My… family. And they were here to steal me and shatter Lapis. I had no time for a cozy catchup. I had to save Lapis, and then get out of here. I grabbed her under the knees and torso. Amethyst ran out the door, and started yelling. I could hear her. She was willing to sacrifice everything for me. I loved her, too.

I ran outside, and heard Pearl. "Amethyst! You're safe! Where's Lapis? Have you shattered her yet?" I flinched. I couldn't shatter anyone. I don't know if it's because I'm too weak, or if I'm just too strong. I shouted back at them. "No. How'd you even find me here?" How had they? Pearl yelled back at me. "One day, this just landed on our beach! The only one who could hit it that far is a gem, so it was either you, or Lapis." She was holding the volleyball I'd hit out over the ocean so long ago.

I gulped. I had to distract them, so that Steven and Lapis could escape. I had to keep talking. "What do you want?" I yell. Garnet shouts back this time. "Amethyst, I know I hurt you, but please, help us. We know you've found Steven. Your gem isn't cracked. He healed you. Now show us where he is." I couldn't stop stalling. I glanced back at the house, and the others followed my glance. I turned into a spinning ball, and rolled around on the sand, creating a giant dust cloud for Steven to escape through.

"Okay, Steven. It's time to go." I said to myself. When I saw the dust, I ran, carrying Lapis. I knew that I was carrying her on her scratch, but it didn't matter. Soon, we'd be safe, and I'd be able to heal her. I planned on taking her to Connie's house. But, halfway down the beach, the dust started to clear. I looked back and saw a red gem holding Amethyst by the neck. The gem's back was to us, but Amethyst could see me. She looked at me, her eyes telling me to go. But I couldn't let this happen. The white gem pointed and screamed at me. I threw my shield at the red gem. She caught it in her gauntlet, and dropped Amethyst. I started sprinting.

I hear them calling behind me. "Steven, wait, we're your friends!" "Steven, drop Lapis! Let us take care of her!" "Steven, run!" I think that last one was Amethyst. Suddenly, the red one jumps in front of me. "It's alright, Steven. My name is Garnet." I turn around, looking for a way out. Suddenly, Amethyst jumps on Garnet, giving me an opening. The two are fighting, even as I run off into the distance. But Amethyst is losing.

I'm sprinting as fast as I can, but it's not fast enough. I trip, falling on the soft sand. Lapis' body falls in front of me. I see the white gem aiming her spear at Lapis' gem. I dive in front of Lapis, taking the spear to my arm. I cry out in pain, and the white gem stops, covering her mouth. "Steven!" she cries. I create a bubble around us, giving me time to check the damage to my arm. It's shallow, but it hurts. I can't keep running with Lapis like this. I get my shield out. A tear runs down my face, and I look away as I smash the pink shield down on her face, poofing her.

I'm stuck inside my gem, watching Steven get attacked. My back is screaming in pain from where Steven is carrying me. I shout out when Steven saves my life. I really could get shattered today. He bubbles us – is he going to die? He needs to heal himself. No – Steven – please don't poof me – I need to protect you! No – Please – Steven!

I pick up Lapis' gem, tears streaking down my face. I hug her gem, and hold it next to my chest. I explode the bubble outwards, pushing away the two gems who stand there. Where is Amethyst? I can't tell. I hope she's okay.

They hurt Steven! I can't believe it! Garnet had hit me into the cliffside, but now I knew that I had to get back up. I use my whip to pull Garnet and Pearl together, and then I spin around in circles, creating a dust cloud to give Steven cover. "Amethyst, no!" Pearl tells me. I'm still spinning when Garnet's gauntlet hits me, poofing me.

I keep running, but they aren't following me yet. "It's okay, Steven." I tell myself. I sprint into the forest that's next to the beach. I find a large clearing, and lay there. I focus all that's left of my powers, and I grow a large tree around us. The gems can't find us now. I collapse from exhaustion. Lapis is safe. But Amethyst and I aren't. My blood pools around me.


	11. The Interrogation

**Thank for those of you who commented! Like a lot! Last chapter, Amethyst proved where her loyalties lied – with Steven, that is. Steven went through a huge character development phase by deciding to poof Lapis. The gems didn't really show much character. I mean, Pearl shot a spear basically at Steven, showing desperation. (That last sentence sounded like it was for an English essay, am I right?)That's all I got. Anyways, I'll try to make it clear when I change character POV. I'll say the new character's name when I switch POV. (Thanks for communicating about that.) I'm going to try to add more details about the surroundings as well. I think this chapter is written quite well, despite the lack of action. It's another chapter that you could skip if you don't like reading well-written emotion. This chapter is a bit dark, with how the gems hurt Amethyst. If you don't that kindof stuff, this chapter is mainly filler. Skip it, if you want.**

"Amethyst! Explain yourself!" I hear a rough voice. Garnet's voice. I start to open my eyes, and sit up. A hand pushes me back down. My head hits the wooden floor. I hear Pearl say "Careful, Garnet." My vision blurs, my head is spinning. My eyes fully open, and I see Pearl glancing at Garnet. Garnet. She's refused again. Ruby and Sapphire solved their problems without me. Or maybe I was the reason they solved their problems.

I stare defiantly back into Garnet's eyes. "Can I sit up now?" I say, looking to the side as I speak. "Yes." She says, in a monotone voice. Once I sat up and had leaned comfortably against the temple wall, Pearl spoke. "Why didn't you tell us that you'd found Steven? Why didn't you tell us how hurt Lapis was? Why did you try to stop us?" I looked away and rubbed my shoulder. "I mean, does it really matter? I found him, I'm not cracked anymore, isn't that enough for you?" I say, trying to avoid the question. Pearl grabs my shirt, and pins me against the wall. My head hits the wood with a thump. I wince. "You're now the sole reason Steven isn't with us, and why Lapis' gem is still whole. Start talking." She drops me back to where I had been sitting moments before. They were furious, I could tell. I was in trouble.

"I didn't come home because of you." I say, pointing at Garnet. "Both of you." Garnet gives a small frown. "So one insult hits home, and you ruin all of our plans to see Steven again. You spent time with him, while we were merely planning, dreaming, begging to see him for even a moment." She says. One small insult. Is that all she thought of it? I start yelling. "It was more than that. You… hurt me. Sapphire pushed me beyond my limit, just so she could be with Ruby. Ruby insulted me when all I was trying to do was keep you all together. It… nearly destroyed me. I couldn't do it anymore. Steven helped me see that I was my own person, he helped bring me back to part of who I used to be." I'm frowning, my teeth are showing; my throat is sore from screaming." Pearl yells back, spitting in her eagerness to speak her mind. "We all needed him to help us be who we used to! You were just being selfish!" On her last word, she kicks me in the stomach. I groan and roll on my side. A single tear runs down my cheek. They were treating me like an animal, using me as a punching bag for all of their troubles. I draw my whip. Garnet summons her gauntlets. "We'll talk to you again when you're ready to talk." She says, as she punches me between my eyes.

I was in nothingness again. I'd been poofed. It was as if I was a suspect, and they the interrogators. But I meant nothing to them. They called me selfish. I had done everything for everyone else. I hadn't taken care of myself just to help them. Steven had understood that. Steven! Where was he? Was he okay? Steven had been bleeding, Lapis had been poofed. Would they be okay?

"Jasper! We're ready to depart!" I walk up the gangplank to our ship. A month ago, I'd begged the captain of this ship to let me travel with her to Earth. It would take eight months to get there, but it would be worth the wait. It would be on Earth where I'd shatter Rose Quartz.

" _When my laser blast hit the rouge Lapis Lazuli, it should've poofed her. She must extra strong. The Lapis Lazuli in question should be severely damaged by now. If even a part of the blast had hit her gem, it would eventually crack, and subsequently shatter. If she's poofed and her gem was hit by the laser, then she'll never reform! Oh yes, they'll be sorry that they ever messed with Peridot!" -Exerpt from chapter 8._

"Lapis Lazuli, prepare to be shattered!" were the words they had used back on the beach. They hated me. Amethyst hadn't, though. Maybe I could eventually live in peace. I had to reform, but I didn't have the strength. I couldn't reform.

"Amethyst, wake up." They'd released me again. I opened one eye. I was lying face up on the temple floor. Pearl had a spear aimed at my gem. "Try anything, and you'll have to wait for Steven to reform." She said. My jaw dropped, my eyebrows raised. They would crack me. These weren't the same Crystal Gems they'd once been. They were desperate. I spread my arms and legs out on the rough wooden floor. "Yeah, whatever. What do you want this time?" I asked. Better get this over with. "Tell us where Steven is." Pearl said. Her hair was a mess, looking as though she'd been running her hands through it. I laughed. "You think I know? If I'd known, I'd be there right now, trying to help him after you speared his arm. Hopefully he doesn't lose too much blood." I smirked, hoping that would get under her skin. She grabbed my shirt with both hands, her spear falling out of her hands. She slammed me into the wall once, twice. She then threw me halfway across the room. She ran over to me, and drew her spear over my chest. She started to drop it, saying "You know I didn't mean to hurt Rose!" She stopped, her spear tip hovering over my chest. I winced, preparing for the worst. She stuttered. "I… I… mean Steven. Steven, not Rose.

Suddenly, Greg rushed in through the door. "You found my son…?" He trailed off as he saw the gem's faces, Pearl's spear on my gem, me laying on the ground. He grimaced. "Is this… a bad time?" he tentatively asked. Pearl and Garnet walked over to Greg. I noticed that Garnet still kept one eye on me, though. I sat up, rubbing my head. I rested my back against the walls, bending my knees and wrapping my arms around my legs. I put my head down and cried.

"Garnet, you found Steven?" Greg asked me. Pearl looked at me as well. "You contacted Greg?" she asked. I nodded. "It's been nine years without his only living relative. We had to tell him about what we've found out." I said. I was sure this had been right. "Greg," I started, not knowing how to phrase my next words so that Amethyst wasn't at blame. "I know that we haven't talked in a while. Lapis Lazuli froze us in ice. We just recently escaped. Amethyst found Steven and tried to convince us that she, Pearl, and I weren't so bad. However, during confrontation, Steven and Lapis narrowly escaped. We're tracking them now." I tried to protect Amethyst when I spoke. Greg nodded, and said "But what was all that about when I came in? You know what? It doesn't matter. Call me when you've found him, okay?" I nod, and he leaves.

I walk over to Amethyst, and Pearl follows. "Amethyst." I say. She looks up. She's been crying. We've been too hard on her. Ever since Steven disappeared, we've hurt her too much. No wonder she didn't want to come back. I hold out my hand, offering a hand up. She flinches, as though I was going to hit her. I don't blame her for that, either. After a moment, she takes it, flinching again when our hands meet. I pull her up. "I'm sorry about what happened. You didn't deserve this. Any of this." She nods. "Let's find Steven together." I say. She speaks up. "But…" she hesitates, as if waiting to be reprimanded. "Let's not shatter Lapis."

Who am I? It's been so long since I've been called by name, I've almost forgotten. Lapis Lazuli. That's it. Should I try to take form again? It hasn't worked in a while. I can barely remember my past at this point. Am I… fading? Cracked? Shattered? No, I'm whole, and I must try to form. I struggle to take shape. Suddenly, something cracks, and I take form. I open and close my hand, seeing if it's true. Where am I? I'm inside of a giant tree. I smile. Steven must've mastered his plant manipulation. Steven… Steven! He was on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.


	12. The Lion in the Marsh

**I'm starting to figure out my writing style. Man, I love causing pain to main characters. Probably more than I should. Like it's so interesting and exciting. What's going to happen to Lapis and Steven? Turns out that Lapis' gem was barely spared. Amethyst is finally back on equal terms with the gems, but she's had more physical and mental damage in that time. I need to hyper focus this story on Lapis again. And what's going to happen with Jasper? And Peridot's been on her own for two whole chapters. I think Amethyst's pain is ending. Full-blown healing for her now. You can tell I'm tired when writing this, because I literally just wrote "I found a pre-made cave with a pre-made cave." :/ this chapter is probs gonna be horrible, but I gotta follow the funky flow :/**

"I'm Lapis Lazuli, and you can't keep me here any longer!" were the words she'd once used. She'd changed since then. She'd been so confident back then. Now, Steven was lying in a pool of his own blood, and she had no clue how to help. They were inside a giant tree that he'd grown around them to protect them. She used the light from her gem to see. But how could she help? Steven was the healer! But now he was unconscious. Unless…

She bent Steven's head towards his elbow. She forced his mouth open, and a blob of drool fell on his scab. Tears filled her eyes. "Please, Steven. Please, don't be dead. You're the only one I love. I'll be forever empty without you." She whispered. Steven's eyes fluttered open. "Lapis?" he whispered. She hugged him, sobbing. "You're alive!" she cried. He looked confused. "Wha- what? How long have I been out?" I ruffled his hair. "You think I know? I just woke up, and I've been trapped in here." It felt like being in that mirror again, but worse, because I'd known that Steven was hurt, and that I couldn't help. "Come on you little hero, lower the tree and we can go find out."

Five days. We'd been out for five days. Steven had almost died. I'd been out for over two weeks. It hurt. I'd changed over these past two weeks. It was hard to tell sometimes, but I think Steven noticed it, too. Steven had changed too. The Steven I'd known never could've poofed me, never would've been desperate enough to take a hit for me. I'd asked Steven about Amethyst. He said that after she'd first seen me, that she'd never tried to hurt me again. Maybe the others could be like that after time.

One thing had to change for certain, though. "Steven, we have to move." I said. He protested, but this wasn't debatable. The Crystal Gems could come back at any moment to finish us off. So, I flew us up to a mountain. I found a cave with a lake inside. In the center was a large pad surrounded by ivy. Steven could sleep there. I could sleep on the cave bank.

We'd been here for two days, and everything almost seemed… normal. "Steven, come on! It's time for training!" I yelled to him. We went to the top of the mountain. He needed to know how to fight, just in case I got hurt again. When I'd reformed, the long scar on my back wasn't as bad as it had been originally, but there was a faint line right above my gem. I wondered if that would ever go away.

We went to the top of the mountain. It's a flat plateau, with a small marsh in the middle. Willow trees border the edges. It's a nice place, really. I start today's lesson. "Alright, Steven. Let's work on creating plant guardians. Plant guardians can protect you from people who hurt or threaten you. So…" I push him a bit. Suddenly, something tackles me. He got that fast. I'm about to crack a joke, when I look up and see a flash of pink fur, and jaws headed for my face. I twist my head and dodge. This wasn't a plant. I summon water from behind the attacker, and draw it to me. The attacker is knocked off of me, and I fly up using my water wings. It's… a lion?

The pink lion roars, and a sonic wave heads straight towards me. I summon an ice bubble around me, but it shatters, knocking me backwards. The shards cut through me. I'm on the ground, on my knees, and he comes towards me. Later, Steven would tell me that I looked fierce, scary, strong. I would then blush and ruffle his hair. The lion roars again, and I summon a wall of water from the side, and it intercepts the sound.

The lion then roars twice; I dodged one, my hair blowing in the wind. The second one opened up a portal, which ended behind me. The lion came out of it, roaring again. The sound wave hits me, and I'm knocked backwards. I hit my head, and I skid a few feet. I try to get up, but my arms can't support my weight. The lion is walking over to me. My vision is blurring. I see Steven running up to me. "Stop!" he yells. Suprisingly, the lion stops. "Er… come over here?" Steven asks, testing to see if the lion would really listen to him. The lion pads over to him, and licks his hand. I struggle to get up, to walk over to him. I can't move.

I cough. The lion looks down at me and growls. I vaguely see Steven talking to it. Did he just… wag his finger at it? I smile. That's so Steven. My eyes are glazing over, and my breath is slowing. Steven walks over to me. I hear his flip flops hitting the ground. I feel his spit. My vision clears. I sit up. The lion is by my side, too. I jump, expecting it to attack. "It's okay, Lapis. See? He's friendly!" Steven says with a grin on his face. I can't believe I was taken down that easily. Steven goes to lean on the lion, but he falls through his mane. "Steven!" I cry.

The last thing I hear is my name. "Steven!" I find myself in a pink field. I look around to see an island. I start to walk over, but I'm running out of breath. On the edge of the island is a pink sword. I grab the sword, and jump over the field, sword first, trying to slice through the floor of this land. I yell, trying to summon all of my strength.

"Lapis Lazuli, the water gem who couldn't even save a boy from some overgrown fur." I mutter to myself. I stand next to the lion's mane, trying to part its fur to find Steven. I heard a faint scream. I see the tip of a pink blade emerging from the pink mane…


	13. Confrontation

**I kept spelling Amethyst wrong, so now everytime I spell it I have to think about it. It, like, disrupts the flow of writing. Me no likey. Chapters are gonna be coming out more slowly during weekdays. This chapter is probably the most important and action packed yet. Do NOT skip this chapter. Have fun reading.**

"Lapis, move!" I tell myself. I see the pink blade before it hits me. I try to form an ice shield, but it shatters. The blade hits my stomach, and my eyes connect with the wielder of the weapon before I poof. Steven, no…

I walk out of my room. The morning light was pouring in through the window. "Hello, Amethyst." Pearl says. I don't respond. Over the past five days, things still haven't gone back to normal. I'm still scared of them, of what they might do. Desperate people can do crazy things to get what they want. I haven't spoken since the night I was almost cracked. Garnet walks in the temple door. "They still haven't returned to their base, and I doubt that they will. Either they're both severely injured, or Lapis is smart enough to know that they had to leave." Garnet says, adjusting her glasses. Pearl looks at her, and says "Why can't you use your future vision to see where we'll find them?" Garnet takes a step back. "My future vision hasn't come back yet. We'll find them without it, don't worry."

"Amethyst?" I look up. They were both looking at me. I took a step back, nervous. "No, it's okay." Garnet said. "We were wondering if you wanted to talk to us yet." I rubbed my shoulder and turned my head. "It's okay, that's fine. You have nothing to be worried about here. We won't hurt you." I looked her straight in the eyes after she said that. "…That was one… two times. It won't… happen again. It was a lapse in our better judgement." I started to walk away, but Garnet called me again. "Amethyst, we're ready to try to find Steven your way. Do you want to start searching today?"

Lapis still hadn't regenerated. I felt horrible. I wondered what she'd say to me when she got back. "Steven, how could you?" "Steven, I'd just regenerated, and you go and poof me?" "It's okay, Steven." That last one was probably right. I had placed her gem on a soft pillow. The sword was on the ground next to her. I walked outside of the cave. It was night time, and the stars shone brightly. Lion walked up to me, and nudged my shoulder. I got on his back, and said "Alright Lion! Let's go!" I got on Lion's back and he started to run. "Uh… Lion… the edge of the mountain is coming up. You might want to turn here. Lion… Lion… Lion!" I yelled as Lion jumped off of the side of the mountain. He roared, and a portal opened up. We fell into the portal, leaving Lapis behind.

The portal ended, and as Lion stopped, I fell over his head, falling onto the sand. Sand? I look around me. I see a giant stone statue of a woman, and in the center of the statue, a wooden house. I decided to go to the house to get a sense for where I was. I walk up the hill, and I see someone on the roof. "Amethyst!" I yell. She looks at me, and her eyes flood with tears. She jumps off the roof, and hugs me. "Amethyst…" I say, trailing off at the end. She's reformed.

Am I different? No other Lapis Lazuli has ever said that they can see things when they've been poofed. I see… the Temple. And… Steven is talking to Amethyst. Doesn't he know how dangerous this is? If the others see him… I must reform. I… must…

I wake up, finally reformed. I fly as fast as I can to the Temple. I have to save him from the Crystal Gems.

"Amethyst, are you okay?" Steven asks. I shake my head. "What happened?" He asks. When I don't answer, he gets angrier. "Amethyst, tell me what's wrong. You... don't look happy here; are you okay?" I can't avoid Steven, of all people. I speak, my voice rough from disuse. "When… I reformed back at the temple for the first time," Steven cuts me off. "For the first time? Amethyst…" I look at him, and continue. "They… asked me about you, they were angry, they hated me, they… hit me." Steven gasps. I continue. "They poofed me when I tried to defend myself. The next time I reformed, they threatened to crack me if I didn't… behave. They hit me, they treated me like I was nothing, and Pearl almost cracked me. I don't know if she would've shattered me. Her spear was coming in too fast to tell. Your Dad indirectly saved me by just entering the room and breaking the tension." Steven looks sad. "I… I'm sorry." He says. I put my hand on his shoulder. "It's… okay, dude. No worries." I see a blue blur in the sky. "Is that… Lapis?" Steven gasps, and is about to cry out, until I put my hand over his mouth. "We can't alert the other gems." I tell him.

"Lapis!" Steven whispers to me as I land. He runs up and hugs me. "I'm so sorry I poofed you. I didn't know you were there." I hug him back. "It's okay, but let's get out of here." I tell him. I glance at Amethyst. I blush. "…Nice to see you again." I tell her, embarrassed. The last time we'd directly seen each other, I'd stolen Steven. She blushes, too. "Hey…" she says, trailing off. Neither of us knows what to say. I grab Steven by the arms. "Well, bye." I say as we fly off. "Wait!" she yells. She immediately covers her mouth. Too loud… I think, as the Temple door slams open. "Lapis Lazuli!" Pearl cries. She launches a spear at me. I turn around, still flying, and I make an ice wall. The ice is too thin, and it shatters under the impact of the spear, slicing through my face. I start to fall into the ocean.

"Lapis!" Steven cries. I try to fly, try to save us, but I can't. From this altitude, I can't let Steven take the full force of the fall. I let myself hit the water face first. I quickly make a bubble around us so that Steven can breathe. Suddenly, Pearl lands in our air bubble, snatches Steven by the waist, and jumps back to the surface. "Steven!" I cry. Garnet and Amethyst both land in my bubble next. "It's over for you, Lapis." Garnet says. Tears well in my eyes, and cascade down my face. I can't fight them both, not while I'm in this condition. Garnet smirks, knowing she's already won. Amethyst… has a look of regret on her face.

It's a brutal fight. No, fight isn't the right word. A fight is where both people have a chance. My battle was over before it even started. Garnet walked up to me, grinning. She kicked me in the stomach, and followed up with a fireball. I moved in time to avoid most of the flame, but my hand was burned. It burst into blisters. I could barely move it. I run towards the wall, knowing that if I could just get to the water, I could escape. She uses Sapphire's powers, and freezes the water around us. I'm trapped. She smirks. "Time for revenge. I'll shatter you for this, and leave your shards at the bottom of the ocean for the rest of time." She says. I gulp. She walks up to me, and I try one last attack of water. The walls break, but before the water goes far, Garnet re-freezes the walls. I back up, and my gem hits the cold ice.

She grabs me by the shoulders, and spins me around. "I see someone hurt you before I did. I'll have to thank them later. They missed your gem, though. Pity. It just makes you weaker, marred, and defective." Garnet says. "But don't worry. I won't miss." Tears are streaming out of my face. I can see Garnet's reflection in the ice. She's rearing her fist up to shatter me. I see Amethyst's face contorted in anger. I watch as the final blow comes towards my gem. Suddenly, Amethyst cries "No!" I hear the swish of her whip, and the klunk it makes when it hits Garnet's gauntlet. The last thing I see is the ocean floor.


	14. Starting Again

**I have invented the ultimate cliffhanger. What's up with Lapis? Is she shattered? The reason I'm writing this is because I'm trying to transfer high schools into a special school that has a program for writers. This is just practice for my audition. However, I really love to write, and I love this story. Please give constructive criticism (or just praise, my self-esteem really needs a huge boost atm) so that I can become better. Enjoy reading!**

"You're just a defective soldier, Amethyst." Is what Ruby had told me. She called Lapis a defect, too. Garnet reared back to hit Lapis in her gem. "No!" I screamed, and I used my whip to grab Garnet's gauntlet and redirect it. It hit right over Lapis' gem, sparing her. "Amethyst!" Garnet yelled. "You can't just shatter someone! She had the chance to shatter you, but she didn't! Just repay her the favor!" I yelled back. Garnet raised her fists over Lapis' gem. I jumped for Lapis' gem, and rolled. Garnet missed, her fists smashing into the sand. The ice around us shattered, and I jumped out above the ocean. I was running on the beach, trying to distance myself and the gems. I heard Garnet yell from behind me. "Stop her!"

I see fireballs and spears whizzing past me. I didn't see Steven. I yelled back to him. "Steven! Go to Connie!" I hoped that he'd heard. A spear hit me in the leg. I tripped and fell, but I got right back up. I spun into a ball and whizzed away.

When I'd been in the bubble, a white gem had taken me to shore. "Hi Steven, my name is Pearl. It's okay, we've saved you." "Lapis!" I cried. "Oh, don't worry about that traitor. We'll shatter her, and then you'll be safe." Pearl said. I broke free of her grasp, and ran into the ocean. I formed a bubble, and dropped down to the sea floor. I couldn't break the ice bubble, but I could watch what happened to my best friend.

Tears were spilling from my eyes; they hurt her, and they were going to shatter her! I had to at least get her shards. But… wait… Amethyst! Amethyst saved Lapis! I rose to the surface as Amethyst left the bubble. Just as I break the surface of the water, I hear Amethyst shout "…Connie!" I nodded. Just then, the Pearl grabbed me. "Garnet!" she cried. "I got Steven!" Pearl was picking me up, carrying me off. I struggled to escape, and she dropped me, right on my head. Everything is fading to black.

Who am I? Oh yes, I'm Lapis Lazuli. I almost forgot. My mental state is so messed up, I can't think, I can't see, I can't feel. I can only remember clips of what just happened. Pain, tears, fire, ice, fists, whips, spears, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Steven. I have to move past this. But… I can't.

I ran. Would they shatter me? Amethyst and Lapis, the two refugees. I couldn't save Steven, I'd have to meet up with him. I couldn't go to Steven's house, they'd find us there. I was still running when I found him. Steven's lion. He laid down, as if asking me to get on his back. I obliged, but I was still weary. We appeared at a cave in a mountain. I walked around, and saw Rose's sword. This must've been where Steven and Lapis had stayed. I suddenly saw Lapis' gem begin to glow. "Lapis?" I say.

I hear someone speak my name. "Lapis?" They said. I struggled to take form. I opened my eyes. "Amethyst?" I muttered. Her eyes widened. "You're okay!" She said. "You were almost shattered." I sat up abruptly, and said "Steven! Where is he?" Amethyst couldn't look me in the eye. I gasped. He was still at the Temple. She looked back at me, and said "I mean, you're still in one piece. I did the best I could." Neither of us talked for a while. She broke the silence. "You know, I thought Garnet and Pearl hurt me badly. But they really took it all out on you. I… I'm sorry." I gave a small smile. "Yeah, well at least you weren't one of them." She smiled back.

"Hey, Amethyst." I said. "Are you going to help me get Steven back?" I asked. She nodded. "Garnet and Pearl have grown… unstable. Steven shouldn't be with them. Besides, you've raised him." She said. I tentatively asked her "Are you still mad that I stole Steven, way back when?" She shook her head. "Naw, you were lonely back then. You needed someone, and he helped you. Things are what they are." We're silent for a while again, but this time, I break the silence. "We've both been beaten by the Crystal Gems. But now, I think we need to train to become better. Will you help me?" I ask. I'd been beaten by Pearl, Garnet, Peridot, and Lion. I had to grow stronger to save Steven. Amethyst nodded. "Okay, then." I said. "Let's go to the top of the mountain."

"Steven, wake up…" I heard someone calling my name. I jolt upwards. Where was I? I look around me. It looks just like my house in Syrc Town, but made of wood, instead of stone. Did Lapis make it that way on purpose? The white gem, Pearl, was standing next to my… bed? Since when did I get in bed? "Where… where am I?" I ask her. "Home, Steven. You're home now." I look around. I appear to be inside the wooden house I saw earlier from the beach. The beach where Lapis was hurt… Lapis! She'd been hurt by these gems here. "You!" I cry. "Yes, Rose- I mean Steven, it's me! Pearl!" She says. I back away from her. "You hurt Lapis! You hurt Amethyst!" I say. She grimaces. "Well, Steven, these things do happen." I run for the door, but she jumps in front of it, holding her spear. "Steven, please, sit down." She says, gesturing to the kitchen chairs. "We have so much to talk about!"

"Hey, Lapis, do you want to start fighting now?" Amethyst asks me. For the past two hours, we've been training at climbing, running, jumping; any movement we'd need in battle. I nod, and we go to the battle field at the top of the mountain. As we take out positions, I call out to her. "So no poofing, right?" She nods. She draws her whip, I summon my wings, and we begin to fight.

I jump into the air, using my water wings to keep aloft. Amethyst snaps her whip at me, and I barely dodge it. I grab it, and I pull it over my head as I descend. She smashes into the marsh banks. She shakes her head, and jumps out of the water. I summon an ice lance into my hands, and I begin to dive. I turn my wings to ice, and dive bomb Amethyst. She spin into a ball and dodges; I see her dodge, and so as my lance hits the ground, I unfreeze it, and use it to push myself back into the air. I summon the marsh waters beneath my feet, and ride it like a surfer would ride a wave; and wherever my touched the waters, it would turn to ice. I go up to Amethyst, flanking her, and summon an ice sword in my hand, and hit her with the flat of the blade. I then curve the wave in front of her, and form a gauntlet in my hand. Her momentum carries her towards me, but I have strength. Just as my fist is about to make contact, she grabs my gauntlet, hooks my feet, and throws me. I land in the marsh, face up. She then spins into a ball, and rolls over me multiple times. I struggle to get up, and I see her towering over me. She offers me a hand up, and I take it. I grin at her, and we both break into laughter.

After a long day of training, Amethyst and I sit on the top of the mountain, gazing at the stars, sitting in silence. Amethyst talks without turning her head to me. "So how did you hurt your back?" I blush, hoping that she doesn't see it in the darkness. "I… I…" I stutter. "It's okay if you don't talk about it. I saw it during training, and I was just wondering. I mean, when Garnet called you defective because of it… Maybe that's why I saved you. She'd called me defective, too." She says, still gazing at the sky. I blush more. "It… It was Peridot. She hit me with her anti-gem laser. Amethyst turns to me and asks "Wait, so why didn't you just poof? How could you stay formed after that? And why is there still a mark?" I blink. "I ask myself that all the time…" She looks back at the sky. "Hey, we're both different, but at least we have each other, right?" I say, trying to be optimistic. Just like Steven. She smiles and says "Yeah." I hold out my hand for a fist bump. She returns it. We both smile. Even though Steven isn't here, we still have each other. It's nice to have people who care about you.


	15. Flight

**I literally have no clue about what to do with this chapter. Normally I have some sort of plan, like "I want Lapis and Amethyst to bond" or "I want to have Ruby and Sapphire fuse this chapter" but this time I have absolutely no plan. No, wait, my plan is to incorporate some of TV Lapis' humor into Lapis here. It literally lasted half of the chapter.**

We sit back to back on the battle field, both of us panting. "Nice job this time, Lapis." Amethyst says to me. I laugh. Amethyst could normally beat me, but this time, I'd flown straight into a tree and beaten myself. "Well, at least I took someone out this time." I say. It's her turn to laugh.

"So, how do you think I could improve my game so that I don't lose every single time?" I ask. Amethyst thinks for a second, and then answers, saying "Maybe if you used like, an ice weapon consistently, and then got really good at it." I stare back at her. "Water is my weapon." I say. She snickers. "You're so deadpan, like all the time. Lighten up." I stare back at her. "See? Just like that! It's great though, trust me." I roll my eyes and smile a bit. "Anyways, let's try using different weapons." She says. I sigh. "Whatever." I say. She laughs as we walk off. "Yeah, there it is again."

"Steven eat your soup." Pearl says to me. I have literally eaten nothing but cauliflower and lentil soup since I got here. Like five days for a total of fifteen meals. Pearl says it's because that's the last meal she fed me on the day I left. Garnet and Pearl sit opposite me at the table, intently staring at me. "Uh…" I say, feeling pressured. "Steven, is your soup getting cold? I have more in the fridge." She says. Of course she does. "I'm… not hungry." I say. Pearl rushes to me. "Would you like to go visit ancient gem sites? Train your swords skills? Talk about your mother? Whatever you'd like Rose- I mean Steven!" I sigh. "Sure, you know what, let's just go visit some gem sights." I say. I do not trust this insane woman with lethal weapons.

We've gone through so many weapons. Now, we're trying a battle axe. "Come on, Lapis! Let's try this!" Amethyst calls to me. We've been setting up targets and seeing if I like any of the weapons. I don't. I walk up to the target. I swing very slowly with the axe. I purposefully miss the target, and then drop the axe. "Oh no, it appears that I have dropped my weapon. Guess I can't find it. Looks like we have to try another weapon I already know I won't like. Or maybe I could like, not try another weapon." I say. Amethyst snickers. "Okay, okay, I see that you're not into any of these weapons. What if we have a battle, and if I win you have to take this seriously and pick a weapon. If you win, then you can stop." I sigh. "I'm going to stop anyways, so I might as well get a win out of it." I say. We circle into our places. Amethyst draws her whip. I summon my water wings.

"Okay, Lapis, let's try a glaive next." Amethyst calls to me. I was humiliated in that battle. Maybe Amethyst is right, and I do need a weapon. "A glaive?" I say. "Yeah, I saw it on TV once. It's like a five-pointed throwing star with a solid center." I sigh, and summon a glaive. "Now what?" I ask. "You throw it!" I frown. Maybe I was just looking at this wrong. I flew up into the air using my wings, and then I turned my wings into a glaive. "Woah!" Amethyst called. I jumped onto the glaive, and then rode it around. I then jumped off of it and shot it into the air. "Lapis, that was so cool!" Amethyst cried. I grinned.

I'd been practicing for two days with the glaives. Maybe this could work. Amethyst and I were on the mountain top, practicing our running, when Amethyst stopped all of a sudden. "Hey, Lapis? I think we need to test our skills." She said. I shrugged. "Alright, sure." I said. "You said that Peridot was the one who hurt you?" Amethyst asked. I nodded and blushed. "Well, then let's catch her! If we can beat her, then we'll know that we're ready." Amethyst said. She was right. We needed to test our skills. And I needed to get some revenge.

"Yeah, but how will we find her?" I ask. Amethyst grins. "She wanted to go back to Homeworld, right? So she's probably trying to fix the galaxy warp." My face hardens, and I say "Come on then, let's go!"

We fly in to the Galaxy warp. This place brings back bad memories. Mostly of being trapped in a mirror. I look around and see her. "Peridot!" I cry. She squeals. "How did you clods find me here?" she says. I summon my wings, and Amethyst summons her whip. We start to circle her. "Ha! I see I left my mark on you, Lapis Lazuli." She says. I blush and flinch. The scar hasn't faded one bit, and at this point, I doubt it ever will. In my distraction, Peridot launches a ball of electricity at me. I create an ice wall, and I deflect the energy. I'd been working on those. Peridot gulps. I use my wings to fly up, and then I freeze my wings and dive bomb Peridot. She starts to create an electricity sphere, but I'm quicker. I summon a large glaive, and use it like a shield. The electricity bounces off, and as I'm about to hit Peridot, I turn the glaive so that she's hit with the bladed edge. It cuts right through her, and it poofs her. I hold up her gem, and grin.


	16. Showdown

**I'm trying to get practice writing battle scenes. This chapter is solely narrated by Lapis. I don't know, this chapter is action packed, but has a certain lack of… emotion. I guess you have to sacrifice something when you write an entire chapter of battle scenes. :/ Please, leave a comment. I'm not sure how much filler to add in the next few chapters. I'm really enjoying writing, but how do you guys like it. Please, be positive, even if you do correct me. 3 The file size of this chapter is 15kb, and since it's the 16** **th** **chapter, I'm trying to get it up to 16kb. That's why I'm rambling on. So, yeah. My favorite SU character is Lapis, but I just can't see her being shipped with Peridot anytime soon. Like she is one of the toughest gems in the TV show, and then the fanbase decides to ship her with an angry green goblin… Anyways have fun reading**

"Nice one, Lapis! You poofed Peridot!" Amethyst tells me. I smile at Peridot's gem, and my right hand subconsciously reaches back and touches the scar that she left. I'd gotten revenge for what she did to me so long ago. My face hardens. "I've taken her down, but we still have to take down two more. Let's go to the temple." I say. Amethyst rubs her shoulder. "About that… do we even have a plan? If we actually beat Garnet and Pearl, what are we going to do with their gems?" I look at her. "We warp there, we fight, we poof them, we take Steven, we leave." I say. She looks at me. "So… you won't crack or shatter them?" she asks. I shake my head, and her face relaxes. I could never be a monster like they were. I walk over to the warp pad. "Ready?" I ask her. She nods. "Ready." She says. We activate the pad.

We warp in, and I see the familiar walls of the temple. Sitting at the table are Steven, Garnet, and Pearl. Steven drops his fork. "Lapis!" he cries, as he starts to run over to me. Garnet grabs the back of his shirt, and says "Steven, stay back." "Amethyst… what are you doing? This… this isn't you. You're not a traitor." Pearl says. Amethyst's face contorts in anger. "How can you tell me what I am? You don't know anything!" she shouts. Pearl draws her spear, and Garnet forms her gauntlets. I look at Amethyst, and we both nod. We run out of the door, and head for the beach.

The others follow us down to the beach. Amethyst and I turn around. Garnet and Pearl are both in their fighting stances. I give both Amethyst and I water wings, and fly us up. I freeze Amethyst's wings, and she spins into a ball, making herself go even faster. At the same time, I summon a giant water hand, and have it swipe at Pearl. She dodges the water hand, but Amethyst hits her head on. She stumbles, but doesn't poof. I frown. Suddenly, Steven runs outside, and calls out to us. "You guys! Stop fighting! Just let me go with Lapis and Amethyst! No one has to get hurt!" Garnet shouts back at him. "Steven, stay out of this!" Steven runs over to me and Amethyst. "If you won't let me go with them peacefully, then I'll fight my way out of this!" he shouts. He almost sounds like me.

Garnet glares at me, and yells "Pearl, you take Amethyst. I'll handle Lapis." I glare back at her. "It won't be as easy as you think. We'll always fight as a group." I yell. Garnet takes off her glasses. "Why don't we settle this civilly? Let's have a sort of tournament." She yells. "One verses one, for a total of two rounds. If your team wins both, then you can take Steven. If our team wins both, then Steven stays with us." I nod. Amethyst yells "No! Lapis! Don't let them separate us!" I don't care. I'm not afraid anymore. "And if we tie, the two winners face off!" I yell back. She nods, and says "Pearl verses Amethyst. And me verses you." I smirk. "You've won once, and I've won once. It's time to settle the score."

I watch as Pearl and Amethyst enter the beach battle field. They each draw their weapons. Steven the referee calls out to them. "Three… Two… One… Go!" He quickly bubbles himself and runs out of the battle zone, not wanting to get hurt. Amethyst launches her whip at Pearl, and Pearl blocks it with the middle of her spear. Amethyst starts to pull Pearl in, but Pearl throws her spear like a javelin, and Amethyst pulls it in to her. It hits her in the arm. I clench my fists. Amethyst doesn't poof, but she goes down on one knee. Pearl smirks and says "Already Amethyst? I didn't think you'd be… quite so easy to beat." Amethyst growls and summons a new whip.

Amethyst spins into a ball, and launches herself towards Pearl. Pearl, at the last second, summons a spear, and points the tip towards Amethyst. Amethyst is impaled, and poofs. Pearl picks up her gem, and flips it in her hand. I gulp. Being beaten isn't an option for me. Pearl calls out to me. "You're next!" I clench my fists and walk onto the battle field.

Steven gives us the countdown. "Three… two… one… go!" I quickly fly into the air, and just in time too; Garnet's fists jabbed at where I had been only a moment before. I turn my wings into a glaive just like I'd practiced, and I had it circle above Garnet's head. I suddenly swoop down and throw the glaive at Garnet's head. Garnet shatters it with her fists, but I'm already dive bombing her. I hit her full on, and fly back up. She is down on her knees, but only for a moment. I throw a smaller glaive at her, but her fireball blasts right through it. I don't have enough time to react, and it hits me in the gut. I fall a few feet, but I regain my balance. This won't be an easy battle.

It's been a long battle. I can't tell how long exactly, but more than fifteen minutes. We're both panting, both battered. The hem of my dress is torn, and my hair is disheveled. Garnet's glasses are merely cracked. I can barely fly. I summon my wings, but they immediately dissipate; Garnet grabs the front of my shirt, and pulls me slightly off of the ground. She brings her fist back for the final punch, but I refuse to lose. I summon my wings, and use them to pull myself towards the ground. Garnet's fist sails over my face, and I grab her fist, put my legs on her knees, and throw her behind me. She falls face up, but I quickly summon an ice dagger, and I stab her in the chest. She poofs, and I collapse on the ground.

I'm panting; I barely won. Tears border my eyes, but I hold them in. Pearl gasps; she thought that Garnet would win. For a second there, I thought so, too. I start to get up, but my arms buckle beneath me. I try a second time, and I use my wings to help me. Steven runs up to me, and hugs me. I think he's merely being nice at first, but after a second, I can feel his healing spit. I ruffle his hair, and walk up to Pearl. "It's you and me, Pearl. Winner gets Steven." She is speechless for a second, but she smirks and nods. "I bet you're too weak to have a proper battle, anyways."

Steven gives the countdown, and we begin. I decide to get the one over quickly. I summon a huge amount of water, and evaporate it all into mist. Pearl can't see, but neither can I. Not now, at least. I fly up, and scan the battle field. I spot Pearl, and I freeze my wings. It's now or never. I fly down to her, and she doesn't see me until the last second. My wing hits her in the gut, and she poofs. I stand, victorious. But then I look down and see it. The spear going through my chest. I retreat into my gem.


	17. Defective

**What'll happen next lol am I right? Please tell me if I should add in a non-canon S.U. event to the story (a popular fan theory par say). If I get no comments about this, I'll just do it. I'm just realizing now that in the story description said "the treat of homeworld" instead of "the threat of homeworld". Do not expect Jasper to come to Earth and bring the characters candy and presents and cake. It is not a thing that exists.**

What had just happened? I couldn't tell, but it was pretty brutal. And now, I, Steven, was the last gem standing. They'd all fought so hard. I look at the five gems scattered around the beach. Red, blue, purple, white. I picked up Lapis' and Amethyst's gems, and silently walked inside, and onto the warp pad. Where would I go? Where could I go? I activate the pad, not knowing.

I'd just chosen to go somewhere random. The warp steam ended, and I looked around at my new location. It was… a cliffside. It was made of a dark stone, and as I looked around, I noticed some strange details. There were human-sized holes in the cliff. You could see large drills with red crystals onto scattered around the land. No plant life was growing here, even though the climate was fine. It started to rain, and I looked for cover.

I found one of the large holes, and placed the two gems inside. I huddled down, and took shelter from the rain. It wasn't comfortable; my knees were against my chest, I had to duck down my head, and it was cold. Suddenly, Amethyst's gem started to glow. She was reforming! She came to, and shook her head. "Steven, no! I'm… sorry…" She says, trailing off as she sees me. Her eyes widen. "Steven, where… are we?" she says. I shrug my shoulders. "No clue." She looks around, and says "Steven! We're at the Kindergarten! This is where I came from! Hey! My hole is right next to this one! Why didn't you camp out in that one, dude?" She excitedly says. I shrug. "It was too small." She visibly winces. Oh, right. She's sensitive about her height. I call out to her. "Wait, I didn't mean it that way!", but she's already outside, too far away to hear me. I start to follow, but suddenly, Lapis' gem starts to glow. I wait for her to reform. "Lapis?" I say.

I hear my name. "Lapis?" It's Steven's voice. I push myself harder to emerge. I form, and look around. "Steven?" I say. He runs up and hugs me. "You were amazing! You beat Garnet and Pearl!" he says. I beat Pearl, but she beat me too. I wasn't good enough to save Steven. "Why are we at the kindergarten?" I ask. He looks at me. "I don't know what a kindergarten is, but Amethyst seemed happy to be here." I sigh. "Steven… A kindergarten is a bad place." Just then, Amethyst walks in. "This is my home, Lapis. It's where I was made, so if you call this a 'bad place', then am I a 'bad gem'?" Tears pool in her eyes, but they don't spill over. I use my water manipulation to wipe them away. "No, Amethyst, you're the one good thing that came out of here. It doesn't matter where you came from. None of us here see you differently because you came from here. You are a great person." I say. She sniffs, and says "But… It's not just that I came from here. I'm… short! I'm a horrible person, and you shouldn't be around me!" Tears spill down her face.

I touch her shoulder. "Amethyst, I think it's great that you're different." She doesn't smile. "Oh, so is it great that you have a scar on your back now? Is that great?" She says. I blush. "That's… different. It's just a part of who I am now." I tell her. I don't like that it is, but it doesn't matter. She gives a harsh laugh. "Oh, you're right. You screwed up and now you have a scar to show for it. And you'll have that mark for the rest of time, set there as a reminder. Why shouldn't you be proud? It's a part of who you are; setting you aside as someone who messed up when everyone around her needed her help the most." If I wasn't blushing before, I sure am now. "I… I…" Tears flood my eyes. She's right; I am a failure. She gasps. "No, I didn't mean it like that." I clench my fists.

I tell her "No, you're right. It's who I am now. But I still have it worse than you. I screwed up, and now I'll have to relive that failure, that pain, over and over again." Her face hardens. "No, it's worse for me, because I did nothing to deserve this. You brought your burden on yourself. People can look at me from any angle and see that I'm not who I'm supposed to be; that I'm short. Your mark is smaller." We're screaming at each other now. She deals the final blow, though. She screams "You're nothing but a reject now! You're different, and Homeworld will never take you back! You're trapped on this planet, and you'll be stuck here forever, just because you couldn't dodge one hit! You're a horrible person too; you split Garnet up for months, you've made Pearl go insane, you can't even see past your own flaws enough to help me! And Steven! You've kept him isolated, he's almost died like four times, and for two of them you were passed out. Why? Because you were weak!"

I stop everything. Tears stream freely down my face, my fists unclench, my eyes close. I walk outside of the hole. I hear Amethyst calling behind me. "Wait! Come back!" she yells. I form my water wings and start to fly off. She's caught up with me at this point. "I said come back, please! I'm sorry!" She throws her whip around my waist, and uses her it to try to pull me down. I feel myself being squeezed, I can't take the pressure, I… I poof, and my gem falls through the sky.

I hear Steven's voice behind me. "Amethyst! What did you do?" I turn around to face him, tears in my eyes, and Lapis' gem in my hands. "I… I… don't know. I hurt her too much, I wanted to take my anger out on her, I made her feel like… like I feel." I say. I had made Lapis feel like I did; I'd always hated myself for being short, and I pushed my insecurities on her. I head back to the hole I emerged from. I sit down against the wall, and I start to cry.


	18. Apologetic

**I'm taking this story from action to emotion. Will there ever be a balanced chapter? No. I can already tell. Last chapter, when I was first writing, I almost completely skipped over all of the emotion. I just had Amethyst be insecure, and then Lapis comforted her, and then they went back to the cave the end. I thought it was poorly written, so I went back to just edit the phrasing, but I ended up changing the entire plotline. :/ A lot of this is based on my own emotions. I also think that characters in books aren't perfect, they have their flaws, too. The TV show really captures this, and I try to, too. Please understand that your words can hurt or help other people. Try to make people happy, not sad. Doing something bad, and then lying about it isn't a solution. Be honest with someone you've hurt. If you can't do that, then you're not ready to apologize. Anyways, I'm kicking off this chapter with Amethyst.**

I'd given Lapis' gem to Steven. I couldn't be the first one to talk to her when she woke up. Steven could help her more than I could. Why had I hurt her? She'd have these insecurities in the back of her mind for the rest of her life, thanks to me. Lapis had stayed in her gem for two days, and it was now evening. I hear Steven calling from the hole next to mine. "Lapis! You're back!"

Steven calls my name just as I reform. "Lapis! You're back!" I shrug my shoulders. He looks me up and down. "Your… shirt? You've changed it…" I'd worn a halter top before, but now I'd changed it to a tank top. It had the same pattern, same length, but this shirt hid my scar. He looks at me, and when he speaks, his voice is full of pity. "Lapis, is this… because of what Amethyst said?" I shrug, and rub my shoulder. "Lapis, come on, talk to me, it's okay." He says. I try to talk, my voice rough at first, but gradually becoming gentler. "It… It's not okay, Steven." He frowns. "Lapis…" I don't talk, and so we sit in the hole in silence for a while, with Steven leaning on my shoulder, my arm around his head. I drift off into a dreary sleep.

We'd fallen asleep this way, and so when I woke up, I was sore. I tried to get up, but Steven was still leaning on me. My movement woke him up. Steven said "Hey, Lapis, are you-" I cut him off. "No. It's okay, though. No worries, little man. Just leave it to me." I went to ruffle his hair, but he pushed my hand away. "Lapis, no. You don't have to bear this burden on your own." I put my hand on his shoulder. "Steven, I just need some time to think this through. I promise I'll be back before night, okay?" I said. I smiled weakly, and walked out of the hole. I summoned my wings, and sat on top of a cliff, overlooking the entirety of the scene.

I was sitting on the edge of the cliff, when I heard a voice. "Hey, Lapis." It was Amethyst. I didn't look back at her. She sat down next to me. "I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean it." She said. I finally look at her. "It really sounded like you meant it when you were saying it before." I say. She winces and looks down at her feet. I don't blame her. I tried to help her, and she hurt me worse than I thought I could be. She talks again without looking up. "I… don't… No, I know that I did mean it when I said it. But it's not true." I look back at her and tell her "No, that's the problem. It's not just that you pointed it out to me, it's also that what you said is true." I feel tears forming, but I push them back. I swallow. "I know that you feel bad, but I just need time to think about what you've said." She stands up, and says "I don't want you to think about what I've said, I want you to forget. Please, is there anything that I can do to help?" I shake my head. She walks away, dejected.

I miss the way the summer breeze used to feel on my back. It doesn't matter. I can't let people see how weak I am. I start to fly back down to the cave, but I see something shiny out of the corner of my eye. It's a corrupted gem! And it's heading for Steven!

I rush back towards the shelter, where I find Steven, huddled in a ball in the corner. "Steven, we have to get out of here!" I whisper, hoping that the gem monster doesn't hear us. I prod him with my foot, and he barely moves. He hadn't eaten in three days. I run to the next hole over. "Amethyst! It's Steven! He needs food, and there's a gem monster outside. " I say. She's lying down, but at my words, she pokes her head up. "I'll go get the monster, you get Steven out of here." After I say this, I run outside. I hear her call to me. "Lapis, wait! Let me help!" I ignore her.

The monster is a large one, and it looks like a quartz, so it must be strong, too. I draw my ice glaive, and it looks at me. I throw the glaive, but the monster blocks it with its horn. I run forwards, then at the last second, I summon my wings, fly up, and dive bomb it. The monster merely whips its head around, and the impact knocks me away. I try again, but this time, its horn catches me in the head. I surround myself in an ice bubble, laying on the ground, hurt. Maybe I'm not strong enough.

I'm huddled on the ground when I hear grunts and shouts. It sounds like… Amethyst. I have to be the one to kill the corruption, I have to prove my worth. I lower the bubble, and charge out, holding a lance. I summon my water wings, but stay on the ground and keep running. I hold the sword out, and thrust, but the monster dodges the weapon and uses its giant paw to knock me into Amethyst. We both grunt, but I get up first. I summon a giant ice sphere, and shoot it into the monster. It takes the hit, shakes it off, and charges full force at Amethyst and I. We both are knocked backwards into the rocky wall of the Kindergarten. The monster charges at me with its horn, but I just barely move to the side in time. The impact knocks some rocks off of the top of the cliff, and one is heading straight for Amethyst. I try to move, but it's as if I'm frozen. The boulder smashes into Amethyst's leg, and she howls in pain. "Amethyst!" I cry. But I shouldn't be worried about her; for a second later, the monster hits me with its paw, and I crash into Amethyst again. The monster edges nearer, and I form an ice bubble around us.

You can hear the crashes around us as the beast tries to break the bubble, but I made it solid enough that it won't crack for a while yet. "Amethyst, are you okay?" I ask. She's wincing and holding her leg. "Dude, I might be hurt badly, but you're hurt worse." She says. She's right, though. My ribs burn, my head aches, and my torso and arms are horribly scratched. "Look, I'm sorry I said all of that stuff earlier. I know that I can't take it back, but that's not how I really feel about you." She says. I look away. She continues, saying "Honestly, people only say that stuff because they know it gets under your skin. But that's not how anyone really sees you. Your scratch means that you've fought a tough battle; and better yet, you've survived. None of us are perfect, but you're so constantly tough and strong. You never give up, and you fight hard, but you aren't a brutal monster. You've raised Steven well." I look up at the sky. "But Homeworld… They won't ever want me back." I say. She looks at me, and says "Yeah, but why would you ever want to go back? You could never bring Steven with you, and you'd just have a boring task to do. Earth can… set you free." I look away. Amethyst continues, determined to make me feel better. "Look, if it makes you feel better, you're really pretty. Be proud of who you are. You are a great person, and I know that it'll all be okay." I look her in the eyes. "You really think so?" I say. She nods. I'm about to respond, but suddenly, the ice sphere breaks. Shards of ice pierce my skin, and I'm thrust to the ground. I look up and see a giant paw coming down towards me…


	19. Starvation

**I don't know… I feel like this story lacks a certain depth. Man I wish you could have art for each chapter 'cause I have some great concepts. Since I haven't eaten in twelve hours (various reasons), I decided to go back and describe what it feels like to not eat or drink for twelve hours. (Although Steven doesn't have to go through a day of high school at the same time.) If you ever wonder what it's like, I'm trying to describe it. I have Steven shift from a narrartor's perspective, to he/his pronouns, to me/my pronouns, and finally to "I" on purpose. He can't think, even choosing a perspective is too much. I can't quite convey it through words, though. Starting off with Steven.**

I was huddled in a ball in one of the kindergarten holes. I needed food, and fast. I could hear sounds of a battle nearby, but I couldn't get up. I hear Amethyst scream. "Lapis! No!" I drag myself to the edge of the hole. Amethyst is holding Lapis' gem. Around her is a field of ice shards. Suddenly, the monster uses its paw to knock Amethyst off her feet. She goes crashing into a stone cliff. She's cornered, and the monster knows it. I summon my shield with all of my remaining strength, and throw it at the monster. It poofs, saving Amethyst. I sigh with relief, and I lose consciousness.

Amethyst… I was a defective quartz soldier who had to be saved by a starving child. As soon as I bubbled the monster's gem, I ran over to Steven. "Steven!" I cried. He was barely alive. I only knew of one warp that had food nearby. And that was the temple.

I thought that I could almost hear Amethyst calling my name. "Steven!" It doesn't matter. I can't think of anything else but food. It wasn't a sharp pain, but it still hurt. Not only did his body feel the pain, but his mind did, too. It was the mentality that was unbearable. He couldn't think, he had to move, he had to find food; but he couldn't… My mind was on edge, it was suffocating. My brain is struggling, it feels like I'm drowning. My heart rate was out of this world, my body kept jerking, I had to save energy, but I couldn't stop moving. I could hear my breath, but I couldn't stop it, my body was struggling to get oxygen, to breath. I'm light headed, and I'm swaying from side to side. I feel a tingling sensation, I keep wincing, if I can't move my body, I have to move my face; it's agony, it's torture. I want to cry, but I can't. My motions become less fluent, I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingertips. I'm panicking, I can feel my body beginning to shut down, it's ending, and I can feel it. My constant urge to move is being suppressed; my body can't keep up, it's shutting down, it's becoming harder to do simple actions. My heart rate is getting faster, but my motions are becoming slower; I have to find food, but I can't, I can't.

Amethyst… I have to go back to the temple. I stand on the warp pad. I look back at Steven and Lapis. Neither are conscious. Even if I wait for Lapis to reform, it's too dangerous for her to go. I have to do it. I warp to the temple. I arrive, and I immediately look around. No one's around. It's suspicious… I open the fridge, and gather a handful of food. I turn back to the warp pad, and Pearl stands on top of it. She looks at me, and says "Good evening, Amethyst."

"Wha… Pearl?! Uhhh…. Hey? Good to see you again…" I stutter, shocked. Pearl smirks. "Good to see you, too. Nice to see you still have some manners, even after I beat you into the ground a few days back." I blush, and take a step back. She grins. She knows she has me. She takes a step towards me, I take a step back. I gulp, and then shake my head. This is for Steven.

I draw my whip. She gives one harsh laugh, and pulls out her spear. She says "Really, Amethyst? You?" I growl. "I'm not just a punching bag! You think you're so high and mighty? Rose may have loved you the most then, but now Steven loves me the most." Shocked realization spreads over her face, and I use the opportunity to run to the warp pad, and activate it. She tries to run back to me, but it's too late. I grin as I warp back to the kindergarten.

The first thing I see when I get back is Lapis tending to Steven's lifeless body. I gasp, and run over with the food. I start to open the wrapper on a loaf of bread. Lapis looks at me. "I thought you left." I keep opening the wrapper, but I reply. "Yeah, so I could keep this little dude alive." I take a slice of bread, and shove it in Steven's mouth, forcing him to chew. I look at Lapis. "There's still hope, right?" She doesn't answer, and when I look up, I see my own doubts reflected in her eyes.

When Amethyst had come back, she'd told me what happened with her and Pearl. We fed Steven seven slices of bread, and two bottles of water. We sat next to him, not wanting to say what we were both thinking. It had been two hours since we'd fed him. Amethyst looked at me. "So… you changed your shirt back…" I blush in the moonlight. "I mean, it doesn't really matter. It's just a difference of a few straps." I stammer. She smiles. "Does that mean you're okay?" she asks. I stare at the moon. "I'm just… confused, you know? I don't know how I should feel. I guess… I'm not as messed up about it as I was." I say. After a pause, Amethyst turns to Steven. "I mean, he still has a pulse. He can't be dead yet." She says. I try to hold on to that thought.

It's been almost a day. Amethyst has spent most of it in her hole, huddled down with worry. I spent the day sitting on the top of a cliff ledge, sick with fear. I could see him from up here. We'd fed him twice since last night. I sighed, and laid down on my back. The stars were just rising above the horizon. I stayed like this for hours, until I heard footsteps. "Hey Amethyst." I said. "It's me… Steven." He said. I whipped around. He was okay! Much thinner, but okay! I got up and hugged him, tears spilling down my face. "I thought I'd lost you!" I exclaimed. He gave me a weak grin. "Oh, come on, you can't get rid of me that easily." He replied. I laughed, and flew us down to Amethyst. "She'll be so surprised." I said. He grinned, and walked into Amethyst's hole. I hear an excited scream.

Once we'd all reunited, I spoke up. "I think we should get out of here, though. We're too close to a warp pad, and Steven needs food." Amethyst shrugged. "Fine by me." She said. "But what did you do for food back at the mountain?" I smiled. "Oh, we had a farm there. Steven would just use his plant powers and grow his own dinner. The soil here can't grow anything, though." I replied. We walked over to the warp pad. "Uh… Lapis? Where are we going to go?" Amethyst asks. I smile, and reply "There's a warp that's about a half hour flight away from the mountain."

I've flown us up to the mouth of the cave, when I suddenly stop and find cover. "What's the matter, Lapis?" Steven asks. I stammer. "It- It's Peridot… She's out of her bubble."


	20. Poisonous

**This chapter is full of drama** **and** **action. You're welcome. Lots of Lazuli focus these last few chapters. No regrets, though. This is the 20** **th** **chapter, so I made it special.**

"It's Peridot! And she's out of her bubble!" I exclaim. Amethyst looks at me. "Are you sure, Lapis?" Amethyst asks. I nod. "Don't worry. I'll take care of her." I say, and I run into the cave. "Peridot!" I yell. She squeals, and yells "You clods!" I form my wings, and start to fight.

I grin. It was an easy battle. "Any last words, Peridot?" I ask, holding an ice knife at her throat. She cowers, and says "Please don't poof me! I promise I won't cause any trouble! I just don't want to be bubbled again!" She shudders. I remember what it was like to be trapped. "Fine." I say. Amethyst yells to me from the edge of the cave. "Lapis, you can't be serious!" I nod. "You can stay alive. But you have to stay with us. If you try to leave or hurt us, then we'll poof you, got it?" I say. She furiously nods. I dissipate the knife. Steven runs up to her and hugs her. "Welcome to the team, Peridot." Peridot looks uncomfortable for a moment, but then she relaxes and blushes.

"How'd you escape the bubble, Peridot?" I ask suspiciously. "Oh, it was easy. A pink lion popped it." She says tonelessly. Steven gasped. "Lion! Man, I haven't seen him in forever!" That lion seemed to do everything to try to hurt me… first it attacked me, then it brought Steven to the Crystal Gems, and now it popped the bubble of a non-corrupted gem? It was up to something…

It's been a week since Peridot joined the team, and Steven has been taking her to the top of the mountain daily to work on her social skills. Amethyst and I prefer to stay away from that. We usually sit down in the cave, and talk. Just like we're doing now. "I mean, Peridot's social skills are worse than yours." Amethyst says. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask. "Well, you're so… dead pan. Like constantly, all the time, every day." She replies. I grin. "Oh, wow, you're finally showing emotion." She says. I laugh. "Yeah, what a wild concept." I say. She starts to laugh, but her eyes suddenly widen, and I wonder what she's looking at. I feel something go across my back, right along my scar.

I whip around, and see Peridot. "What are you doing?" I ask, backing away and blushing. She shrugs. "I was curious." She says, unabashedly. "You… you can't just do that." I say. "Why not?" she asks. I have an idea, and I blush even more. "Can… can you at least tell me why I have it? Gems aren't supposed to get hurt like this." She smirks. "Of course I can tell you. I'm smarter than the average Peridot." She says. I look away, and she doesn't continue. "Well?" I ask. "I'm not entirely sure – it's a first for me, too. But my hypothesis is that through sheer willpower, you refused to be poofed. You simply did not let yourself retreat into your gem. However, I believe that the mental and physical strain was strong enough that it would be too much for anyone to bear, and so the pain and damage took its manifestation in the place you'd been hit. You can't have that much trauma and not need to regenerate. It's like with humans, how if their wounds aren't treated to properly, then they can become permanent. The same thing happened to you." She says. So it was all my fault, then. If I'd just given up, I'd still be a normal Lapis Lazuli. She pauses, and then continues. "However much I… hate to admit it, you really are quite a strong and determined Lapis Lazuli. I blush, and I hear Steven calling from the mouth of the cave. "Peridot, you can't go this far away when you play hide and seek. Come back over here so we can keep playing." He says. Peridot shrugs, and walks out of the cave. Amethyst and I sit in silence for a while. Finally, she says "Well, I guess it turns out that you have that mark because you're too strong, not too weak." I blush and rub my shoulder. "Yeah, I guess."

It was a peaceful couple of days. Steven taught Peridot how to sing, Amethyst found out that her whip could work as a grappling hook, and I just rested. No monsters, no fighting, no sickness or wounds; just a normal rest. Peridot even tried sleeping. Amethyst, Peridot, and I would sleep on the drier banks of the cave, while Steven would sleep in the center pad.

One night, I thought I heard something. I looked outside, and it was pitch black. I assumed it was just Steven going to pee, but then I heard it. "Pearl, she's over here." It was the Crystal Gems! And they were talking about me! I screamed "Wake up!", and I heard the others groggily get up. "Lapis? What…?" Steven said, clearly confused. If I were him, I'd be confused, too. "Run Steven, run!" I yelled. I felt someone grab my arm, and throw me into the wall. I couldn't see because it was pitch black outside. I was being squished into the wall, face first, unable to move in any direction. "Augh!" I cried. I felt something sharp and cold press against my gem. It was Pearl's spear. I was trapped. If I struggled too much, they could crack or shatter me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a light go on. I'm assuming that Pearl projected it from her gem. "Alright everyone, listen up. We have Lapis hostage, and we aren't afraid to hurt her. One wrong move, and she gets cracked." Garnet said. I tried to struggle, but my captor pushed me harder into the wall. What were they going to do to me?

I heard Amethyst yell "What do you two want this time?" Pearl quickly replied "I'm so glad that you asked, Amethyst. You see, we've been going about this all wrong. We've been capturing Steven, and then fending off attacks from you gems." As she said those last words, she pressed my face harder into the wall. I grunted in pain, and she kicked me in the back. It hurt, but I held my pain in. "Anyways, we've realized a better way to do this. We'll steal Lapis, and then use her as bait to get Steven." She finished. I laughed. "What makes you think that you can keep me contained? I'll fight you for as long as I can!" I said. I felt Pearl's spear press harder into my gem. A tear was brought to my eye. Pearl was the one to laugh this time. "We'll keep you subdued with this." She said, and she held something up that I couldn't quite see. Subdued? That sounded… bad. Like, really, really bad. Amethyst gasped. "You wouldn't be that cruel." She said. Garnet called back. "Lapis here was cruel enough to take Steven from his home as a toddler. We're fighting fire with fire." What could it be? If Amethyst was worried… Amethyst had been horribly treated by the gems, and she had learned to understand how bad they could be. If Amethyst thought that this was cruel, even from them… Then I was in deep trouble.

Pearl gave a high, forced laugh. "Oh, but our guest here doesn't know what we're talking about." She said, as she pulled my head back, and then slammed it back into the wall. "We aren't going to hurt you, don't worry. But this poison will. A lot. We took it from a gem corruption, you see?" Pearl said, in almost a girlish voice. Poison… Oh, no. Oh no, oh no! I couldn't take it, I had to escape. They'd trapped me in a mirror before, but this would be ten times worse. I'd be trapped inside of my own head. "Any last words, Lapis Lazuli?" Pearl asked me. "Steven, please, I know that I love you and that you love me, but you have to leave me with them! Don't fall for their trap, and don't help me!" I cry, tears pouring down my face. Pearl lazily traced her finger across my scar as I talked, and it took everything in me to not break down right then and there. Pearl calmly replied "Now that's settled, let's begin, shall we?" I'm proud to say that I struggled until the very end. Garnet shoved me to the ground, and poured a liquid on my gem. Fire… it felt like fire… A drop fell down onto my scar. I screamed. I couldn't let them see me like this, I couldn't let Steven see me like this, but the pain was… unbearable. I waited to lose consciousness, but I didn't. I could still see, hear, smell, and feel.

"Oh yes, don't worry you three. Lapis can still see and hear. Isn't that right, Lapis?" Pearl said, and she kicked me in the ribs. I tried to yell, but only a moan would come out. "Oh yes, this poison will paralyze her, but never poof her. And over time, it gets worse!" Pearl said, with almost a gleeful tone. Garnet cleared her throat. Pearl frowned, and she put her foot on my head. Garnet spoke in a softer tone than before. "Steven, if you want Lapis to be okay, then you'll come live with us. If anyone else comes with him and tries to trick us… well… I'd almost feel sorry for your friend Lapis Lazuli." Amethyst yelled back at Garnet. "How'd you even find us here?" Pearl lazily replied. "We followed Rose's lion! Besides, I've been here before. This is Rose's secret sanctum. She kept weapons and armor here." That lion again… He was up to something…

"Anyways, enough chit chat. We'll be taking Lapis back to the temple now." Pearl said, as Garnet picked me up by the arm. She dragged me through the water, my legs and torso becoming soaked. I tried to attack her with water. A thin trickle of the murky water traveled up my arm. Garnet looked down at me, and said "Trying to attack us, Lazuli?", and she punched me in the face. My concentration broke, and the water fell. I'm dragged onto the warp pad, and as we leave, I hear Steven cry out "Don't worry Lapis, I'll save you!"


	21. The Shards

**Will Lapis be okay? I'm rushing this chapter bc it's late and bc I have a huge test tomorrow in foreign language. So that's why it's so short. The prime kindergarten control room was seen in the episode "keeping it together".**

Steven was lying down in the shallow water of the cave, thinking about what had just happened. Amethyst was standing at the cave entrance, looking over the surrounding mountains. Peridot was drawing in the dirt.

"Ugh! How could they hurt Lapis like this, and then expect me to lovingly run into their arms?" I yelled. Amethyst walked over to me. "Steven, it's going to be okay…" I look away. "Not for Lapis." I say. Amethyst winces. "Yeah, her end of the deal sucks. I don't know how they could do that… We don't even know what they'll do to her even if you agree to their demands. We have no clue as to whether they even have the antidote." She says. Peridot walks over, and says "Well, then why don't we just make our own antidote, and when Steven goes there, he can just give it to her himself?" I gasp, and reply "Peridot, that's a great idea! What's the antidote made of?" She looks away. "The hardest ingredient to get will be the powdered gem…" Amethyst gasps. "You mean to say that we'll have to get part of a gem to cure her?" Peridot nods. I sigh, and say "We have to help Lapis, no matter what. If this antidote is really that hard to make, then the chances are that the gems don't have it either. But where are we going to get an old gem to use?" Peridot rubs her shoulder. "We could go to the Kindergarten." I nod. "Whatever it takes."

"Come on, Lazuli." Garnet says to me. She's dragged me all this way, and now my legs are covered in scratches, and the hem of my skirt is torn. The poison hurts a lot more than that, though. Garnet opens the temple door, and throws me inside. "Don't worry, every day we'll come back. Some days we'll give you more poison, other days we'll just use our weapons, and maybe sometimes we'll just hurt you with our words." Garnet says, as she smirks. I can't live through this. This is pure torture, and I hate every second of it. If I ever get out of this state, then I don't ever think I'll be the same. She closes the door, leaving me alone. I look around the room as best I can. It's a room filled with clutter and purple crystals. This must have been Amethyst's room. I lay in the room, alone with my pain and thoughts.

We've warped into the Kindergarten, and it doesn't look any different from the last time I was here. Except that Lapis was with us last time. She's struggled through so much… She doesn't deserve it. Amethyst must see how I feel, because she ruffles my hair. "It's going to be okay, Steven." She says. I nod, and look at Peridot. "How long will it take to prepare the antidote?" I ask. She considers this, and then replies "About two weeks. And that's IF we find a gem shard here." I take a step forward. "We have to. It's not an option." I say. Peridot walks forwards. "There should be an elevator in about fifty feet that will take us down to where some of the… earlier gem shard fusion experiments are." She says. I find the elevator, and press the button to go down. As we travel further down, it seems to get… creepier. The elevator stops, and Peridot proclaims "We're here. Welcome to the Prime Kindergarten Control Room."

The room is dark green, and I notice circles in the ceiling. I'm about to say something about that, but Peridot beats me to it. "I need you to pull out one of those tubes from the ceiling. Inside of them are the gem shard fusions." Amethyst nods, and starts whipping at one of the circles. It dislodges, and falls to the ground. Out falls a fusion of seven arms, all different colors. Amethyst winces at the sight of it. She looks away as she attacks it with her whip. Amethyst bubbles six of the shards, but she picks a red one to hand to Peridot. "Here you go, dude. Now let's go home. This place is giving me the creeps."

"Oh, come on Lapis, I know you're not asleep. You can't sleep when you're poisoned. Now look at me." Pearl prods me with her foot. She gives a single laugh. "Oh that's right. You can't move. Silly me." She says. She's just playing with me. She goes to my other side, where I can see her. "Now, let's see. What should we do today? I know! Let's talk about what a horrible person you are!" She cheerfully says. I try to turn over, but I can't. I can't even close my eyes. This is horrible, I can't take it. "Let's see; you stole Steven from his childhood home, you nearly killed him multiple times, you almost let him starve to death, you let yourself get hurt bad enough so that he had to protect you, when it should've been the other way around, you've isolated him so that he only has one friend, and then you took him away from her, too. He's been put through so much at only fourteen years old, and it's all your fault. Oh, and when he was starving, you were wallowing in your own self-pity! Wow, when you add it all up, you really are a horrible person!" she says, and on her last two words, she kicks me in the stomach. I can't fight back, and I can't leave. Tears are spilling down my face. She smiles, knowing that she is getting to me, that she has gotten to me. "Oh, and he had to carry you because you were struggling with this-" And at those words, she traces her finger down my scar. I hate her. "Oh yes, I know that you are extremely self-conscious about that. Let's see if we can root out any new weaknesses while we're at this, shall we?" she says. I try my hardest to talk, tears spilling down my face. "Stop… reminding me… about everything I… HATE… about… myself…" She laughs. "Oh, I can't do that; we're just getting started!" She sits down and makes herself comfortable. This is going to last a while. I don't think that I'll survive…


	22. Stevonnie

**Even I'm disgusted with that last chapter. No action, except an insight into Lapis' daily life. In case you can't figure it out, here's a list of character development. Steven more serious, stronger. Lapis sadder, but with a gained sense of humor. Amethyst More confidence. Pearl/Garnet slowly turning insane. Peridot not a murderer.**

I lay on my side. It's been… three, maybe four days like this, I think. It's hard to tell when you never see any sunlight or get any sleep. The door opens. I shudder. What did they have planned for me today? It was Garnet; I could tell because if it had been Pearl, she would've already told me what a horrible person I was. "Now, Lapis, I bet you're wondering why we're putting you through all of this. Steven isn't watching. We could just as easily poison you, and leave it at that." She says. I hear footsteps coming around to where my head was. She comes into my line of vision. "Our train of thought was that in the off chance that you escape, which probably will happen, seeing your track record, we wanted to put a… safety in." She says, pausing to kick me in the ribs. "In other words, we want to damage you beyond repair, so that if we ever have to face you again, you'll be too weak and traumatized to put up a real fight." She finishes. Oh, god. They planned to 'damage me beyond repair.' How long would I have to endure this agony? It doesn't matter; I couldn't let Steven try to save me. I couldn't let him back into the Crystal Gem's arms. "You… can't…" I say, struggling to even say two words. Garnet smiles, and puts her foot on my back. "We can. We want to pay you back for everything you've done. Including splitting up Ruby and Sapphire for so long." She says. I could tell by the tone of her voice that today's punishment would be worse than it had been yet. She moves her foot up to my head. The pressure was going to kill me. "I know that normally, Pearl does the mental punishments, and that I do the physical punishments. But today, I wanted to do this one." She says, and she picks me up by my waist. She carries me over to one of the piles of litter, and lays me down with my back to it. "I think that this will suffice for today. Today, we'll let your own thoughts torture you." She placed an object directly in my line of sight. My eyes widen, and I start to cry. It was the mirror.

I'm sitting in the cave, watching Peridot work at the antidote. "Hey, Steven. What's up?" Amethyst asks, walking in through the mouth of the cave. She'd been looking for more ingredients for the antidote. "Nothing much." I say. She looks at me for a moment, and then says "Dude, you need to get out of the house. You haven't left in like, two days. You're getting really sad. Like, unhealthily sad." I look back at her. "I bet Lapis is worse." I say. She flinches. "Dude, she isn't going through all of this so that you can mope. Let's go and have some fun, just for an hour or two. You won't miss much." She says. I consider this for a second, and then I say "Okay." She grins, and replies "Then let's go!"

Amethyst had turned into a bird, and flown me away. I looked down. "Hey, that's my old house!" I say. Amethyst grinned, and landed next to it. Over the past two months, it looked like it had taken some damage. The door was gone. One of the windows was cracked, another shattered. I walked up to it, and touched the frame of the door. I see something inside. I crane my head to get a better look. Amethyst must see it too, because she tries to block it from my view. "Hey, dude, why don't we go do something else!" she says. I push past her, and walk inside. Furniture had been turned over, the pools had been drained, my toys and TV had been smashed. But nothing was missing. The worst part was on the wall. A large message had been carved into it. "Beware, Lapis Lazuli…" I read. The Crystal Gems had ransacked this place. I turn around, and stomp outside.

Amethyst runs after me. "Hey, Steven, I have an idea. Let's go visit Connie!" she says. I stop. I'd left this town without ever saying goodbye. I nod my head, and we walk into town. I find Connie's house, and knock on the door. I hear Connie's voice coming from inside. "Just a minute." I'd missed her. She opens the door, and gasps. "Steven!" she cries, and she hugs me. I blush. "Hey, Connie. Can… we talk?"

We sit on a stump in the woods. She talks first. "What happened to you? I go to your house one day, and I find scuff marks and blood on the beach. I check inside your house for you, but you were gone. I kept checking back, but after a month, I saw that someone had ransacked your house. After that, I realized that you were gone." I blush. "There was a battle. The… bad gems found us, and they fought us. Lapis… Lapis and I escaped, but we couldn't go back. Now that the Crystal Gems knew where we lived, it wasn't safe. We've been living in the mountains now." I say. Connie sighs. "So… you didn't just ignore me? You've actually been in danger?" She asks. I nod. "Lapis… Lapis is in a… bad place now. We have to wait another week before we can save her. It's been pretty intense." I say, clenching my fists. She puts her hand on mine. "It'll be okay, Steven." She says. I blush, and stand up. "Do you want to go have fun?" I ask. She nods, and we run off."

We'd been hanging out all day, and now it was almost night. We were laying on the beach. I held my hand out to her. "Want to dance?" I asked. She nodded, and took my hand. We spun around. My flip flop came off, and I slipped; Connie caught me just in time. We looked at each other, and laughed. My gem started to glow…

We… I… looked down. I stood up. I was taller than normal… but who was I? I took out my phone, and looked in the camera. I wasn't Steven! I wasn't Connie! I was… Stevonnie? "I'm a fusion!" I yelled. I split apart.

I was thrown back onto the beach. "Steven! What was that?" Connie asked me. I sat up, rubbing my head. "It was… a fusion…" I said. We both blushed. Amethyst walked out onto the beach, laughing. "You two look awkward! What, did you hold hands?" she asks, laughing again. I look away, and Connie rubs her shoulder. Amethyst stops laughing. "Well, whatever. Steven, we should probably go back to the cave to make sure that Peridot hasn't blown anything up yet." She says. I wave to Connie. "Well… bye…" I say. She blushes.

Amethyst flies me back to the cave, and we're at the mouth of the cave when we hear it. "Bad lion! Shoo! Shooooaaa you're attacking me!" Peridot says. We run into the cave to see Lion trying to bite Peridot. "Lion!" I yell. Lion looks at me, and stops attacking Peridot. I run over to Lion. "Bad Lion! Go outside! You're in time out!" I say. Lion snorts, and walks down the mountain. "Peridot, are you okay?" I ask. She brushes dust off of her shoulder. "Yes, Steven, I'm fine, even after being 'viciously attacked'. But try to control that 'Lion' of yours." She says. Amethyst looks suspiciously after Lion. "Something's up with that animal…" she says.

I look down at the pot Peridot was cooking the antidote in. "Is it almost ready?" I ask. She grins. "Almost. We just need some of your healing spit, and then it'll have to sit for a week." She says. I spit into the pot without sitting down. Amethyst looks at me. "Nice aim, dude." She says. I grin. "Now, all we need is a rescue plan."


	23. The Rescue

**This is my one-week anniversary of writing this book! Thanks for almost 5,000 views! In honor of this, I made this chapter the best one yet! Now let's dive right in!**

It's almost been a week since I added my healing spit to the antidote. We'd tried to make a plan. "Okay, Steven." Amethyst had said. "What if you go in, act all nice for a day, and then ask to see Lapis to tell her how much you hate her. Then, pretend to hit her, but actually give her the antidote." I had agreed. Just one more day, Lapis.

It had gotten worse. Much worse. After a week with no Steven, they'd given me more poison. Like that was something I needed. Then, they'd made everything so much worse. I was in horrible shape. I was bruised everywhere, horribly scratched, and mentally scarred. I had a deep cut going across the bride of my nose from the time I'd told Pearl that she wasn't that good at protecting Steven. My right eye was blackened, and my left hand couldn't move at all, because Pearl had stabbed my palm. The bottoms of my feet were horribly cut, and I think that one of my ribs were broken. Despite these major injuries, I was still covered in more minor scratches and bruises. The worst damage done was to my mind, though. I think that they'd finally gotten me to hate myself as much as they hated me. Would Steven even recognize me?

Pearl walked in for today's punishment. I whimpered, and she smirked. "Oh, is Lapis Lazuli afraid of a Pearl? What an embarrassment!" She said as she kicked me in the face. I couldn't take it. She put her face close to mine. "Oh, but you're so much worse than an embarrassment, isn't that right?" she said. I worked up all of my strength, and spat in her face. She growled at me, and wiped the saliva off her face. "Alright then, let's begin!" she said.

She turned me over onto my stomach, leaving my back exposed. Oh no… I heard her draw her spear. I knew what she was going to do before she did it. She ran her spear across my scar. I screamed, and I heard her laugh. "That'll teach you!" she said, in a crazed tone. She picked me up by my waist, and threw me back on the ground, this time so my face was pointing up. She gave one look at me, and laughed again. "Oh, did that hurt? Is that why you're crying?" she asked. Tears were streaming down my face, as they had many times before. "Well, I can fix that!" she said, as she brought her spear down towards my eye. Suddenly, Garnet walked in. "Pearl, stop for a second." She said. Pearl looked up at Garnet, and stopped. The spear point was less than an inch away from my eye. "Pearl, I went back on the mountain, and I think Steven's ready to come here. I watched him, and he's packing his backpack." She said. I breathed out in relief. Pearl looked down at me. She merely scratched her spear tip over my eye, and I screamed again. She grinned at me. "It's not going to help, you know. We don't even have the antidote, or know how to make it. We'll just dispose of you when Steven comes." I laid on my side, passive. They'd finally done it, they'd finally won. I was broken. Pearl smirked. She knew that, too.

"Steven! The antidote is ready." Peridot said to me. I ran over to her, and put the bottle in my cheeseburger backpack. "Thank you, both. I'll try to be back within a week. You both know the meet-up point?" I said. They nodded. We all knew that we couldn't come back after this. I stepped onto the warp pad. Amethyst and Peridot stood on the ground next to me. "Good luck, dude." Amethyst said. Suddenly, Lion padded up to me, and rubbed against my hip. I patted him, and he went to go stand next to Amethyst. I started the warp. I saw Lion push Amethyst onto the warp, and she came with me. Our plan was already ruined.

We were standing in the temple. Both of us. When Pearl had specifically told me to come alone. Garnet and Pearl were sitting at the table, but when they saw us, they stopped talking, and stared. Garnet nudged Pearl. Pearl ran off into the temple door. Garnet faced us, and drew her gauntlets. I drew my shield, and Amethyst got out her whip. We nodded, and began to fight.

Garnet charged Amethyst, who ducked just in time to dodge Garnet's gauntlets. She wrapped her whip around the gauntlets, and twisted, throwing Garnet to the floor. Garnet summoned fire to her hands, and it traveled along the whip. Amethyst couldn't dodge it, and she caught fire, and subsequently poofed. Garnet stood there, grinning. I threw my shield, and she didn't block it. She poofed, a look of shock and disbelief on her face. She hadn't expected me to fight her on my own. Pearl opened the temple door, holding… Lapis? Lapis looked horrible. She was so badly hurt. I hadn't expected it to be this bad. Tears started falling from her eyes. Pearl's face was crazed, and she said "One more move, and I'll shatter her!"

I'd thought that Pearl was coming back to hurt me again when she opened the temple door, but she didn't. She dragged me outside of Amethyst's room, where I saw… Steven? Ruby's, Sapphire's, and Amethyst's gems all lay on the ground. Steven met my eyes with a look of shock and disbelief. He could barely recognize me, and I didn't blame him. I started crying. Pearl held me, and yelled "One more move, and I'll shatter her!" Steven took a step back. Pearl continued in a quieter voice. "No, no, I won't shatter her. We'll be out of collateral, then." She whispered into my ear. "That's all you are. You. Are. Nothing." I scrunched up my eyes. Pearl continued in a louder voice, so that Steven could hear. "We only used about half of our poison on her. Another false step, and I'll give her the other half." Steven frowned. "Now, Steven, here's what I want you to do. If you bubble Amethyst's gem and give it to me, put Ruby's and Sapphire's gem on the table, and drop your weapon, then I won't hurt Lapis here, got it?" She held the vial of poison next to my back. Steven sighed, and put away his shield. I tried to yell at him to take it back out, but only a faint moan escaped my lips. I had to have a plan. I struggled with all my might, and said "Steven… opportunity…" I leaned backwards, and the vial of poison fell onto my gem.

"Steven… opportunity…" Lapis had told me, right before she'd poisoned herself. She'd given me the opportunity at her own expense. Pearl was in total shock, and Lapis was leaning fully on her. I drew my shield, and threw it at Pearl. She poofed, and Lapis fell to the floor. I ran over to her. "Lapis!" I yelled. She didn't move. I started to cry. I carried her in my arms, grabbed Amethyst's gem, and warped off.


	24. Recovery

**So… recap. Lapis poisoned** **herself** **in order to save Steven and Amethyst. Yeah, she's not going to be okay. This chapter is mostly dedicated to her trauma. I don't know, I just feel like… people don't understand how much their simple words can hurt others. I'm trying to say, in this chapter, that you can't hurt others. It can scar them for life. Please, be kind to everyone.**

We'd agreed to meet up at a place called Mask Island. The warp stream ended, and I looked around. It was a beautiful place, with half-cracked geodes laying around. I find Peridot waiting for me. "Steven! You're not dead! What happened to her…?" She asks, trailing off as she sees Lapis. I lay Lapis down, and she doesn't move, doesn't talk. Suddenly, Amethyst's gem begins to glow. She reforms, and she looks around wildly, as though she was still in battle. As soon as she sees where we are, she relaxes. She looks at Lapis, and gasps, her hands going to her mouth. "They… they… they're monsters… How could they do this to her?" she whispers. I look more closely at Lapis. One eye is blackened, and the other… looks horribly scratched. Her nose has a deep cut through it, and her hand has a huge stab wound. Her chest splays out at an awkward angle, and I think it's because she has a few broken ribs. Her feet are in no condition to walk, and stomach has a huge scratch between her shirt and skirt. "What happened?" Amethyst asked. "How'd you escape?" I look at Lapis. "Pearl threatened to poison Lapis, and so she put the vial of poison by her gem. Lapis told me to strike, and she… she… she leaned backwards into the poison. She is the only reason we're here…" I say. Amethyst looks at Lapis, her eyes full of pity. I look at her the same way.

After I poisoned myself… it all went blurry. Would Steven still love me after this? No, he wouldn't. I was just a weak Lapis Lazuli. Why would he ever love me? My vision had gone blurry, and my body felt like it was on fire. Steven had poofed Pearl, just like I had hoped, and now we were all on Mask Island. I couldn't quite hear, but I could make out people close to me. I saw Steven talking to Amethyst. They both looked at me as though I was weak. I hated it. I wasn't weak… No, I was. That's all I was.

"Steven, let's get the antidote." Amethyst told me. I quickly reached into my bag, and I pulled out the vial. I turned Lapis on her back, and… it was horrible. Amethyst gasped, Peridot cringed. Her scar was much deeper and wider than it had been before, and it looked ripped on the edges. They'd targeted her weaknesses. Her gem had a sickly green tinge. I poured the antidote on her gem, and it glowed. I hoped that it would work. Lapis shuddered, and then went still again. Her gem started to slowly grow blue again. Amethyst put her hand on my shoulder. "Come on, dude. We've done all that we can. Let's go make a shelter." She says. I nod, and we start to explore the island.

We'd found a small alcove by a small cave. We kept our stuff in it, but I slept in a geode. We'd found one for Lapis, too. I'd made a bed for her out of palm fronds, and I'd put a few things by her for when she woke up. A glass of water, a pencil, a pad of paper, and my cheeseburger backpack, so that she knew she was safe when she woke up. Amethyst had told me that it would be a while before she woke up, that she'd been through so much that we shouldn't expect her for a week. It was now a week later, and she still wasn't awake. Her gem was now its original blue color, and she would sometimes turn in her sleep. It was an improvement.

I know that they'd healed me, but I hadn't been able to face them yet. I knew that I had to, though. I took form. I looked around me. I found a few objects, but I didn't really care for them. I walked outside. Steven saw me, and cried "Lapis!" He ran up to me, and I curled down into a ball to make myself smaller; I didn't want anyone else to hurt me. I couldn't take more pain. A tear formed in my eye. "Lapis?" Steven asked, unsure. He had only been trying to hug me. I blush, and rub my shoulder. I gently hugged him back. He looked at me. "Are… you okay? You seem different." he asked. I blushed more, and turned my head, closing my eyes. "Do… do you not want to talk?" he asked. I shook my head. "Oh! I know!" he said, and ran back into the geode I'd been resting in. I could tell that it was going to be hard to face everyone. I sat there, curled into a ball, until Steven came back. "You can write down what you want to say on this!" He said. He sat down next to me, and held out the pencil and paper I'd seen when I woke up. I slowly took it from him, and started to write. Once I'd finished, I held it out to him to read. "They promised me that they'd 'damage me beyond repair'. It's worked, Steven. They won. I'm too far gone to be saved, I'm not worth it." He read. He looked at me. "Lapis, did they… really say that to you?" he asked. I nodded my head, tears slowly falling down my face.

"Lapis… I didn't realize… We started making the antidote the day they took you. We tried to save you as fast as we could…" Steven said. I scribbled down my thoughts, and held it out to me. "It wasn't soon enough, Steven. They've hurt me too much, I'll just be weak, and I'll only drag you down." He read. He looked up at me. "Lapis… please, try to… describe some of it to me so that I can understand, and help you." He said. I took the pad back, and wrote down a long paragraph. "Every day they'd hurt me in a new way. Some days, they'd hit me. Other times, they'd just talk to me about everything I hate about myself. Soon, I hated everything about myself. If I fought back, they'd make it that much worse. That's how my back got hurt. I spat in Pearl's face. She made sure that I paid for every little thing I did. I couldn't run away from it, I couldn't stop listening, and I couldn't fall asleep, so I always had lots of time to think about what they said." Steven said, reading off of the paper. "Lapis, do you want me to heal your wounds? Can you even see? Doesn't it hurt?" he asked. I shook my head, and wrote "Please, don't heal them. I… don't know who I am without them. I can see out of one eye, but just not on the left corner, where they scratched it. Yes, it does hurt, but the words they said hurt more." Steven looked at me with pity in his eyes. I winced.

I heard Amethyst's voice. "Lapis! You're okay!" she said. I saw her run to me, and I used my arms to try to block whatever she might do to me. She stopped a few feet away. "Are… you okay? What's going on?" she asked. Steven lightly tapped me with two fingers, and I rolled over onto my side, trying to become as small as I could. Steven winced. "Sorry. I just… What they did… it wasn't right. Lapis, you have to understand that. We all love you here, and we wouldn't hurt you. They're insane, they're not in their right mind. It'll be okay." He said. I shuddered. Peridot walked in. "Hello." She said. When I didn't respond, she said "How rude. Just because you've been through a life changing experience, it doesn't mean that you can forget your manners." I blushed, and tried to talk, but I… couldn't. Steven handed me the paper. "Why don't you write out some of your thoughts?" he asked. I blinked back a tear, and started to write. "Peridot is right. I'm rude, and weak, and mean, and horrible. I don't deserve friends. I don't deserve anything." I'd written. Steven read it aloud, and then looked back at me. "Lapis, it's going to be okay. Just give things time. Don't talk about what you 'deserve.' You are a wonderful person, and I love you." I shake my head.

It's the second day since I've been healed. I wake up, and walk outside of my tent. Steven and Amethyst are sitting by a campfire. "Hey, Lapis. Feeling better?" he asks. I shake my head, and he frowns. "Lapis, do you want to talk to us today? Or write something out?" he asks, handing me the paper. I take it, and begin to write out my thoughts. "You shouldn't be with me. I'm bad, and I've hurt you, and I've almost gotten you killed. You don't need this, you don't need me. I should leave." He reads. I nod, and start to walk away. "Lapis, no!" he says, and he grabs my hand. The hand that Pearl stabbed…

" _Morning, Lapis. How are you today?" Pearl asked. I couldn't speak, and she knew it. "Oh, going to be rude, are you?" she says. "Well, I can also be rude." She kicks me in the head. I try to talk, but I can't. She brings her leg back for another blow, and I try to use my arm to block it. My hand bounces off her leg. She looks me in the eyes, and draws her spear. "Oh, so you're trying to hurt me now? That's low, Lazuli, even for_ _you_ _!" On her last word, she drives her spear through my hand. I scream, and she laughs. "And that's saying something. You are a horrible, horrible person. I don't see why we don't shatter you right now. You are nothing but a waste of space. Oh, that's right. We're using you to hurt your loved ones. I'm guessing you'd love it if we poofed you right now." She says, as she cuts a thin slice across my neck. I cry out, and she kicks me again. Tears are streaming down my face; my teeth are clenched, my eyes closed. She laughs. "Well now, you're so much prettier now. Not that you were ever pretty at all. You've always been so ugly, I usually can't bear to look at you." She says, exiting the room. I sob._

I open my eyes again. I'm lying on the ground. Steven and Amethyst are staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths. Steven has tears in his eyes. I prop myself up on one arm, blush, and rub my shoulder. "When I touched your hand, you passed out, and fell to the ground. You had sort of a flashback, and your gem made a light projection of your memories. We saw what Pearl did, just that one time. We… had no idea it was that bad…" Steven says. A tear starts to fall down my face, and I try to blink it back. "So that's why you're afraid to talk…." Amethyst says. I close my eyes and look away.


	25. Stronger

**Going to move on from the pain now… for the most part. I feel like the story is become darker, but this story usually mirrors my thoughts to a certain degree. To write about Lapis, I usually look at pictures of her in the episode "Jailbreak." Such as when she refuses to have Steven let her out of her cell, or when she emerges from the rubble after the ship crashes, looking tattered and scared.**

I'd had one other flashback since that second day. I'd cut my foot open on the inside of a geode. Steven had been there for that, too. I tried to talk, but I couldn't. "It's going to be okay, Lapis. If you've been through this much, then it'll take time, but it can get better." It was now my fifth day awake. Ever since I'd been stuck in the temple, I'd paid closer attention to time. Today, I walked outside of my geode, and found Steven sitting on a log, dejectedly staring into the campfire. I walked over to him, and patted his back. He looked at me and laughed. "It's okay, Lapis. You shouldn't be helping me, I should be helping you." He said. I sat next to him. "You know, I'm beginning to wonder about Lion. He's the reason Amethyst went with me, he tried to hurt Peridot, he brought me to the temple… What do you think?" he asked. I stared at him. "Oh, yeah. You can't talk." He said. I looked into the campfire. "Hey, while Amethyst and Peridot are busy, let's go and find out." He said. I started to shake my head, but he didn't listen to my objections. "You need to travel, Lapis. When you were captured, I was moping around the cave. But Amethyst took me off the mountain, and it really helped. I think that you need that help, too." Steven said. I nodded, and walked over to the warp pad. I beckoned for Steven to follow, and he did. I activated the pad, and we warped off.

"Lapis… Why are we at the Kindergarten?" Steven asked. I took out the pad of paper, and wrote down a sentence. "Let's not show Lion where we're staying." I'd written. Steven nodded. "I'll call him, then. Lion!" he yelled. I saw the pink animal padding around the corner, coming towards us. Steven saw him, too. "Lion! Want to give us a ride?" he asked. Lion laid down, a sign that he wanted to let us ride. Steven got on first, and called "C'mon Lapis! Let's go on an adventure!" I sighed, and got on Lion's back. He created a portal, and jumped into it.

When we arrived, I looked around. We were at the Temple, on the beach. I leaned backwards, and fell off Lion. Steven looked nervous, too. "Lion?" he asked. Lion roared loudly. He was signaling for the Crystal Gems… Oh no… I saw the door open, and Pearl came out. She looked me in the eyes, and called back into the house. "Garnet? Lapis and Steven are here." Garnet walked out of the house. They walked down the hill from the Temple to the beach, until they were about twenty feet away. "Hello, Lazuli." Pearl said, smirking. I grimaced, and took a step backwards. "I see you're looking as horrible as ever." Pearl said, taking a step forwards. I knew they were going to attack. I turned around, and ran. I heard Garnet calling from behind me. "We weren't finished with you yet!" I glanced over my shoulder, and saw a fireball headed for me. It hit me in the back, right over my gem. Right on my scar. I fell into the sand.

 _Pearl walked in for today's punishment. I whimpered, and she smirked. "Oh, is Lapis Lazuli afraid of a Pearl? What an embarrassment!" She said as she kicked me in the face. I couldn't take it. She put her face close to mine. "Oh, but you're so much worse than an embarrassment, isn't that right?" she said. I worked up all of my strength, and spat in her face. She growled at me, and wiped the saliva off her face. "Alright then, let's begin!" she said. She turned me over onto my stomach, leaving my back exposed. Oh no… I heard her draw her spear. I knew what she was going to do before she did it. She ran her spear across my scar. I screamed, and I heard her laugh. "That'll teach you!" she said, in a crazed tone. She picked me up by my waist, and threw me back on the ground, this time so my face was pointing up. She gave one look at me, and laughed again. "Oh, did that hurt? Is that why you're crying?" she asked. Tears were streaming down my face, as they had many times before. "Well, I can fix that!" she said, as she brought her spear down towards my eye. Suddenly, Garnet walked in. "Pearl, stop for a second." She said._

I find myself face down in the sand. Another flashback. And this time, Pearl and Garnet had seen it. I tried to get up, but I couldn't keep my balance. I sat down on the sand, trying to avoid the other's eyes. Pearl gave a hearty laugh. "I see we really did break you, didn't we Lapis Lazuli?" she says. Garnet, however, takes a step back. "Was… was that how we really were to you? I didn't realize… That… that was wrong, that was cruel. We shouldn't have… What have we done?" she says. Did… did they really not know? I blink back tears. I get up, and Pearl draws her spear. I can't fight. I haven't used any of my powers since… I was here. Garnet puts her hand on Pearl's shoulder. "No, we should let them leave. This isn't the time for a fight." Garnet says, looking at me. "But Garnet," Pearl protests. Garnet barks back at her. "No. We've done enough already. You two can use the warp pad." She says. Steven nods, and I get up. As I walk up to the house, I hear Garnet call back to me. "And Lapis… I'm sorry." I turn around. "You… you can't take it back. You said it yourself. You wanted to put a safety on me. You wanted to damage me beyond repair. It's worked, okay? I'll never be whole again, I can't even love myself after this! And it's all. Your. FAULT! I say, screaming at the end, tears spilling down my face. Garnet flinches. I look down at Steven. He looks… scared of me. I don't blame him. "Look at what you've made me…" I say, looking down at my hands. I sink to my knees. "Lapis, we should leave." Steven tells me. I stand up, and walk over to the warp pad. I activate it, sending us home.

It's been a few hours since we saw the Crystal Gems. I'm sitting by the campfire, and Steven comes and joins me. "Well, at least one good thing came out of that. You talked again." Steven says. I look up at the starry sky. "Steven… I'm not the same person I was. Even from a few hours ago." I say. Steven looks at me. "What do you mean?" he asks. "Before this all happened, I was… happy. I lost all of that. When I reformed, I was sad, angry, scared. I wanted to escape everything, and try to hold on to any part of myself from before. And now… I want to make myself whole again. I have to make myself stronger, so that no one else ever can hurt me like this again." I say. Steven nods. "What are you going to do?" he asks. "I want… I want you to poof me. I want to be as normal as I can." I say. Steven nods. "But… I won't poof you, Lapis." He says. I sigh. "I was afraid you'd say that." I said. I made an ice knife. "Lapis…" he says. I hold it in my right hand, and I push his left hand onto the handle. I put it up to my heart. "I'm not strong enough." I say. He nods. We push together.

It took me a day to reform, but I had a lot of regenerating to do. I walked out of my geode. I put tape on my hands and feet. I had some training to do. Steven saw me, and hugged me. I still flinched, but I stayed standing. I was already stronger. Steven looked at me. "You look… different." He says. I grin. "It's because I'm happy." I reply.


	26. On the Run

**Lapis is recovering… finally lol am I right.**

"Lapis, that was really good!" Steven yells to me. We'd been practicing dodging hits by using coconuts we found on the beach. I needed to get stronger, and this was the only way I knew how. I smiled. I was getting better. Most of the time. I acted like I was okay, but I wasn't. I'd seen how being around me had made Steven unhappy. I couldn't make my misery rub off on others.

I still would be hurt, but I tried to hide it. Steven became happier, and I got better at lying. "Hey, Lapis, let's call it quits. It's getting dark." He says. I just kind of agree to whatever he says at this point. "Sure." I say. Even though I'm talking again, I don't talk that much. We sit down by the campfire. "Hey guys. What's up?" Steven asks Peridot and Amethyst. "Dude, I'm just like, doing nothing. It gets really boring." Amethyst says. Steven laughs. "Amethyst, you're not 'doing nothing'. You're literally eating s'mores right now." Amethyst has her face stuffed with marshmallows. She raises her finger and tries to talk, but her mouth is full. She lowers her finger. We all laugh.

It's been two hours at the fire, and we're all tired. Amethyst and Steven are playing an intense game of cards. Peridot is trying to play the ukulele, and I'm laughing when Amethyst repeatedly tries to cheat. Peridot turns to me. "See, you can't have been hurt that badly by the Crystal Gems if you can still be happy this soon after you've been hurt. I mean, come on, you're not even messed up about it anymore. At first, I even thought you were acting." Peridot says, laughing at the end. My face drops. Steven and Amethyst turn to me, their mouths open with shock. I clench my fists. "What?" I say, my voice flat. She shrugs. "I mean, yes, you had injuries, but you're fine now. It can't have been that bad." She says. I stalk forwards, and grab her by the front of her shirt. The bottoms of her feet are dangling in the air. "Don't you dare even talk about these things that you don't know about!" I yell, my eyes scrunched and my fists clenched. I open my eyes. She's leaning away from me, her face filled with fear. I drop her to the ground, my hands covering my mouth. "I… I'm so sorry." I say, slowly backing away. I look around, and I see mingled looks of shock and disbelief. I run.

"Hey, Steven, have you seen Lapis?" Amethyst calls to me. I shake my head. It's been an entire day without Lapis. I look at Peridot. "Have you seen her?" I ask. "I saw her earlier this morning at the warp pad." She says. I exchange a look with Amethyst. "Did she say where she was going?" I ask. Peridot shrugs. "I asked her, and she said that she didn't know. And then she warped away." Peridot says. I run into Lapis' room to see if she's returned. I see a piece of paper on her bed. "I can't stay here anymore. I don't want to hurt anyone. I'll be on my own from now on. –Lapis." I read. "Lapis…" I say, trailing off. Where could she be? Amethyst walks in, and I hand her the note. She gasps. "Steven, we should start looking. Let's just warp different places, and see if we can find her." She says. I nod, and we walk to the warp pad. "Where to first?" I ask. Amethyst thinks, and then says "Let's go back to Rose's secret armory. You know, the cave we stayed in on the mountain. Maybe she'll have some sort of attraction to it." I nod, and we warp off. When we arrive, the first thing I see is Pearl's face.

"What are you doing here?" Pearl asked. I started to reply. "We're looking for-" Amethyst cuts me off. "Doesn't matter." Garnet looks around. "Where's Lapis?" She asks. Pearl looks around and grins. "Is that what you're looking for? Has Lapis run off?" Pearl says with a smirk. "We'll let's just see who can find her first." She finished. I take a step back. "You've done so much to her already; can't you just leave her alone?" I ask. Pearl smirks. "Not until you're happily in our care." She says, as she warps off. This wasn't a search anymore, it was a race to find Lapis.

I'd gone to the first place I'd thought of; the galaxy warp. I'd been left here in a mirror for thousands of years. I sometimes wondered if I should've taken Steven, after all. I don't know anymore. "Lapis Lazuli, prepare to be shattered!" Were the words Pearl had once shouted to me. They'd first planned to shatter me. Then, as they slowly became insane, they decided to poison me instead. Which was worse?

Night had fallen, and so we'd gone back to Mask Island. "It's okay, Steven. We'll find her." Amethyst told me. It didn't matter. We had to find Lapis. It wasn't an option.

It had been two days without Lapis. I hadn't slept well at all. Today was the third day. I walked outside of my room, and walked up to Amethyst. "Morning." She said. I shrugged. I saw a beacon in the sky. The warp pad had activated. Someone was on our island. We both looked around for Peridot, and we saw her sitting by the fire. It wasn't any of us. Amethyst and I ran to the warp pad, and we found a surprise. It was Lapis. Laying on the ground. Unconscious.


	27. Pride

**Okay also unrelated but if you ever listen to the Steven U song "do or donut" my literal favorite line is "now if a customer chokes on a donut** _that 'aint right_ **the law requires that you assist them" and idk that's amazing anyways have fun reading**

I blink. No… I wink. One of my eyes is swollen shut. I try to sit up, but my stomach hurts, and I lay back down. I settle with propping myself up on my shoulder. I look around, and I'm… back in my geode on Mask Island. How did I even get here? "Steven?" I call, hoping that he'll hear me. Luckily, he does, and he rushes into my room. "Lapis! You're okay!" he says. I smile. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I'll get a break until the next time something horrible happens to me." I say. I desperately hope so. "Hey; so Lapis, what… happened to you? All we know is that you ran off, and then you were warped back here." Steven says. I try to remember, but… I can't. "I… don't know. I just remember flashes of it. Flying to the Galaxy Warp. Having horrible anxiety about… something. Being hit in the eye. Waking up here." I say, trailing off at the end. Why couldn't I remember anything? I mean, I did remember why I was anxious, though. I was worried about my visions of Jasper and Nephrite, from way back when. They should only be a few months away. Who knows why they were here, or what they'd do if they found us.

"Lapis, are… are you sure you don't remember anything more about how you got hurt?" Steven asked. I shook my head. My left eye was swollen shut, and my stomach had a thick scratch on it. Other than that, I didn't seem to have any other damage. "I think that it was the Crystal Gems. I think that it was their way of sending me a message, you know? That… I'm trapped here, that they still control me…" I say. Steven looks away. "Hey, let's go do some training. I need to get in shape again." I say. We'll need as much training as we can to face what's ahead of us.

Steven and I had a practice fight. I'd won easily. I'd knocked him onto the ground with the blunt side of an ice sword. I held my hand out to him, and pulled him up. "You know, Amethyst once suggested that I should focus on one weapon and leave it at that. But I think that I'm better off using whatever weapon suits my purpose, you know? What do you think?" I say. He nods. "Hey, can I test this out? Maybe I could fight… Lion?" I ask innocently. Steven shrugs. "Sure. Hey Lion!" he yells. Lion appears. Steven walks off. "Well, you two have fun." He says. We're alone. I look Lion in the eyes. "Listen, I know that you hate me. I know that you have it in for me. So then take me to the Crystal Gems." I say. He widens his eyes in shock, and then licks his paw. He lays down so that I can get on. I climb on, and he opens a portal. Just as he's about to jump into it, I notice a purple bird sitting in a tree. Amethyst had been watching. She knew. We enter the portal, and warp away.

I'm sitting by the campfire with Peridot. Suddenly, Amethyst runs into the clearing. "Steven! Lapis has gone to the Temple! I don't know why, but she took Lion, and left!" I stand up. We had to get her before it was too late. We run onto the warp pad, and head to the Temple. We find Garnet sitting at the table. I'm about to draw my shield, but Garnet holds her hand up. "I have no fight with Lapis Lazuli. I have done enough to her. Your fight is outside, with Pearl." Garnet calmly says. Amethyst nods, and the two of us head outside. I'm about to cry out, but Amethyst puts her hand in front of me. "Let's see how this goes. Maybe this is what Lapis needs. I don't know if you noticed, but even though she's been trying to hide her feelings, I can tell that she's still messed up about this." She whispers. I hadn't noticed. We hide behind the furniture on the deck, listening.

We jump out of the portal, and Lion throws me off his back. He really hates me. I look around, and we're on the beach by the temple. Good. I don't see anyone around, so I call out to them. "Crystal Gems! Come down here, and fight me!" The door bursts open, and Pearl runs out. "Oh, why if it isn't Lapis Lazuli, the greatest failure the Earth has ever seen." She says. I clench my fists. "I didn't come here to talk. I came here to fight." I reply. Pearl smirks. "So you admit that it's true? Your self-esteem is low, and so you choose to pick a fight with us? How rash and rude. No wonder you're all alone." She smoothly replies. I growl. "You're the one who made me this way. I used to be better. Now I'm not. It's simple, really. Even someone as dumb as you should be able to understand." I say, hoping to catch her off guard. She laughs. "Trying to insult me? How low. You should be the bigger gem about this. Even trying to blame me for the horrid way you turned out. Despicable." She says, smirking. I flinch. She goes on. "I know your weakness, Lapis Lazuli. You're so self-conscious, and you hate it. It works every single time. So predictable, so easy to manipulate." She finishes. My fists are clenched, I'm grimacing, tears slowly dripping from my face. I shouldn't have come here. She draws her spear, and I freeze. I hear a cry from the Temple. "Lapis, you don't have to do this!" I look up. It's Steven and Amethyst. I hear Pearl call out to me. "It doesn't matter if you do this or not. We still control you. We will always control you." She says. I can't do this anymore. "I'm Lapis Lazuli…" I say. I form my water wings. Pearl draws her spear, but that's not my plan. I don't need to fight anymore. I fly straight up, and then look back down. "And you…" I clench my fists. "Can't keep me here any longer!" I fly up. I hear cries from below. Pearl's spear grazes my leg. I keep flying. "And Steven… I love you." I say. I fly away from Earth.


	28. It's Okay to Think About It

**Lapis has made it off planet… I'm hyper struggling with this chapter. I have an actual plan for the next 2 chapters, but idk what dumb filler to add here… I mean what? Hahaha forget that last part. Gonna be a short chapter, I can tell u now. I dislike this chapter. Next couple chapters are gonna be long**

I stood there in awe. Lapis had just… left Earth. Where was she going? Would she be coming back? Amethyst put her hand on my shoulder. I nodded, and we ran back inside, and warped back to Mask Island. "Steven… it'll be okay…" Amethyst says, trailing off at the end. "Amethyst… Where will she go?" I asked. She sighed. "I don't know…"

"Lapis!" Steven had cried my name before I left. I had to leave, though. So now… where would I go? Right now, I was sitting on the top of the moon base, looking at the endless sky. What would they all be thinking back on Earth? What would the gems be thinking? What would Steven be thinking? Steven… I couldn't protect him from up here. Or could I? I remembered the ship that I had seen in my dreams. I had to find it in space, and stop it. I flew off towards Homeworld.

"Steven!" Amethyst said as she snapped her fingers in front of my eyes. I looked up. "Sorry Amethyst. I was daydreaming." I said. "Yeah, clearly, dude. Anyways, I was wondering how you're doing. You seem… distant… lately." She says. I shrug. "Hey… listen… Steven. I think that it's great that you're trying to stay positive. I know that you're worried about Lapis. Constantly. Do you need to talk about it?" she asked. "I'm fine." I say. Amethyst gives me a look. "Dude, that's what people say when they're not fine. Give me the truth. Are you okay?"

I sigh. "I'm not okay. It… hurts… seeing Lapis like this. I have all these feelings, but I have no one to tell. I don't want to say anything because my pain is clearly much less than hers. It's horrible, seeing what other gems are doing to her. I can see her being torn apart… but that's the problem; I'm just watching, and not helping. She's clearly so hurt, and she's changed so much… I hate it, I wish that she was back to normal again. But… I don't know if it'll ever happen, you know?" I say. Amethyst rubs my shoulder. "It'll be okay, dude. She'll come back, she loves you too much to leave forever. I don't know how soon it'll be, but it will happen. She's just… tired of being controlled. I don't think she'll ever be the same, though. I'm still not the same after what Garnet told me, and I don't think I'll ever be. But I just try not to think about it." Amethyst says. I look her in the eyes. "But it's okay to think about it." I reply. We sit in silence for a while.

It's so dark in space. But the stars are beautiful. I almost forgot what it was like. But there is only one source of water nearby, and that's Earth. Space isn't good for a Lapis Lazuli. I'm powerless here. I'm flying past Neptune when I see it. "A green hand…?" I murmur to myself. It was giant, and it glowed bright green in the pitch black sky. I flew over to it. It was clearly gem powered; I had to try to destroy it. I turned my wings to ice, and went in for a dive bomb. My wings were all I had to fight with out here. Suddenly, the index finger turned to me. A yellow light silhouetted me, and I was frozen. It must be anti-gem technology. I was being pulled towards the ship. Once I was a few feet away, I poofed.


	29. Arrival

**In "Bismuth", Bismuth stated that Nephrites act as pilots. Centipeetle was a pilot. Both are green. A lot of these quotes are taken from the episode "The Return". Here's where it gets interesting…**

I blink my eyes open. Everything is… green. I jolt upwards. Where am I? I stand up and look around. Three of the walls are dark green, but the fourth wall is a green light barrier. I move forwards to touch it. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." A gruff voice says. I fall backwards, and look around. The orange gem from my dream is walking towards me. "Jasper." I whisper.

"So… what is a Lapis Lazuli from Earth, of all places, doing attacking my ship?" Jasper says. I gulp. "How… how do you know I'm from Earth?" I ask. "You were flying in from that direction." Jasper confidently replies. She stops outside of the light barrier. "So, now I've found a tour guide. A damaged tour guide, but you'll have to do." She says. "I'm… I'm not damaged." I stutter. She laughs. "Please, I saw your back. Someone did that to you. It's a sign of your weakness. Pathetic." She says. I wince. "It's… no, it's nothing. It doesn't matter. I don't matter. What do you want?" I say. She laughs again. "And not only did they destroy your back, they messed with your head, too." I clench my fists. I didn't escape Earth, only to be hurt in space.

"I know you've met with hostile gems other than Peridot. Peridot could have hurt your back, but she isn't good with words. And now I want you to tell me who is." Jasper says. I gulp. "It… it doesn't matter. I'm fine, just the way I am. I won't tell you what I know." I say, shaking. Jasper laughs, and calls down the hallway. "Nephrite! She's resisting!" she yells. A small spark of electricity comes off the barrier, and it hits me in the palm. I wince, shaking my hand. Jasper grins. "There's no use in resisting. Tell me, who hurt you?" she says. I shake my head, and another small bolt of electricity hits me, this time in the cheek. I cry out in pain, and put my hand to my cheek. This was just a bad as Earth. "Why are you even going to Earth?" I ask. Jasper grins. "We were told that a Peridot went to Earth, and never came back. We went to check to see if there was any resistance. Looks like we were right." Jasper says.

"Look, Lazuli, why don't you just make things easier for yourself, and tell me the location of your base?" Jasper asks. An idea sparks in my head. What if I told her where the Crystal Gems were? No, I couldn't. It was my backup plan. I shook my head, and a slightly large bolt of electricity sparked off the light barrier, hitting me in the leg. I cry out in pain. I couldn't give in.

"Steven! Are you seeing this?" Amethyst called to me. I was sitting by the campfire, but at her words, I ran over to the cliff side. She pointed to the sky. A small, green speck had appeared. "What… what is that?" Peridot ran up to us. "It's a gem powered ship! It's from Homeworld!" Peridot yelled. I gasped. Amethyst looked at me. "Steven… this is bad! Like really bad! We can't fight Homeworld again! Not with the three of us! We're dead! We're so dead!" Amethyst said, pacing off. "Alright, Steven. I'm going to try to calculate the landing location of the ship." Peridot said, as she ran off. I stared at the green speck. I wondered where Lapis was.

"Alright, Lazuli. We're getting close to Earth. Tell us where the rebel base is." Jasper told me. I was sitting on the floor of my cell, curled up in a ball. She made a fist, and I knew what that meant. It was a threat. "Wait, no! I'll… I'll tell you." I say. I was a horrible person for telling her. "It's in a place called Beach City. Please, that's all I know." I told her. She smirked. "I knew that I'd break you eventually." She says, walking away. "Wait!" I call after her. She turns around. "What are you going to do to me back on Homeworld?" I ask. Jasper smirks. "If you behave, we might let you leave. And if you don't…" she says, trailing off at the end. I get the message, though.

"Steven?" Amethyst asks me. "Yeah, Amethyst?" I reply. "I'm sorry for freaking out earlier. It'll be okay, though." She says. I frown. "Do you think they'll be friendly?" I ask. She sighs. "No. It's okay though, we're strong, even without Lapis. But maybe she'll come back to help." Amethyst says, looking at the sky. Peridot suddenly comes rushing over to us. "The ship has its course set for Beach City!" she yells. I gasp, and look at the sky. I can make out all of the details now. It looks like… a hand. "It will land in about three hours!" Peridot yells. I look at Amethyst. "No, dude." She says. "What?" I ask, surprised. "I know that you want to help protect the Crystal Gems. But we have to protect ourselves." Amethyst says. "C'mon, let's go to bed. It's getting late."

It's almost been three hours. The ship looks close. I'm sneaking off to the warp pad, when I hear Amethyst calling from behind me. "Dude, come on. We have to stay safe." She says. I whip around. "Amethyst! Please, let me go! How would you feel if you were the Crystal Gems, and had to face this alone?" I ask. She sighs. "Alright, dude. But I'm coming with." She says. I nod, and we walk onto the warp pad. I'm about to send us off, but I hear someone call out. "Wait!" It's Peridot. She runs up to us, panting. "Let me go with you. I can't fight, but I might be able to negotiate if we have to." She says. I gesture to the warp pad, and she jumps on. I send us off.

We warp in, and the Temple is empty. I cast a nervous glance at Amethyst. She looks back at me, her face matching mine. We walk out of the front door, and see Pearl and Garnet standing on the beach, weapons drawn. The hand ship has broken the atmosphere, and it casts a green glow over our surroundings. "Hey! We came to help!" I call. They whip around. "Steven! What are you doing here? Get out of here!" Pearl cries. "It's too late for that! Just stand behind us!" Garnet replies. The hand ship stops just inches from the water, and unfolds its fingers onto the beach. Sand flies everywhere, and I shield my face. Amethyst draws her whip. A pod rises from the palm of the hand, and it travels towards us. It opens, and I see three gems. An orange one, a green one, and Lapis. Our eyes meet, and horror fills her gaze.

"This is their base?" The orange gem asks Lapis. Lapis looks away in shame, and answers "Yes, Jasper." Amethyst whispers "That green gem looks like that Centipeetle we poofed a few years back." Jasper turns to the green gem. Nephrite, leave this to me. Nephrite shrugs. "This is not a gem controlled planet! Please leave immediately!" Pearl yells. Jasper sighs. "So, you didn't see Rose Quartz?" she says. Lapis shakes her head. She was trying to protect me by lying. I hoped that it would work.

"What a shame. I was looking forward to beating her into the ground." Jasper says. I take a step back. "This is all that's left of her army? A lost, defective Pearl; an over cooked runt, this shameless display, and… Peridot?" Jasper says. Peridot stands stiffly. "Peridot, reporting for duty." "Where have you been?" Jasper asks, her eyebrows raised. "I've been… um…" Peridot stutters, looking around. Jasper sighs. "Have you been with the enemy all of this time?" Jasper says, exasperated. Peridot is sweating. Jasper sighs. "Now, normally, I'd be forced to report this to Homeworld. But, in this case… If you help me catch these rouges, I'll let you off scott-free." She says. Peridot looks back at us, and then turns back to Jasper. "I…" she stutters. Jasper sighs again, and summons her weapon – a golden helmet. "I'll let you decide where you loyalties lie while I take care of this." Jasper says. She charges at us.

Garnet summons her gauntlets, ready to block, but Jasper smirks, and pulls out a golden two-pronged stick crackling with energy. Jasper jabs with the stick, and Garnet can't dodge in time. It hits her in the gut, and electricity seeps through her body, and she poofs. Her gem… gems? Land right in front of me. I'm trembling with fear. Jasper flips her hair, and looks at me. "What's this?" she asks. I hear Lapis calling from the pod. "He's a human! He's not one of them!" Lapis cries, still being held back by the green gem. Jasper replies "I know what a human is.", and grabs me roughly by the shirt. I panic, and summon my shield. It knocks her backwards, but she stays standing. "That's… Rose Quartz's shield!" Jasper says, looking me up and down. I turn, and try to run, but she grabs me by my shirt, and hits me in the head. Everything goes dark…


	30. Jailbreak

**ALSO TV SHOW SPOILER ALERT: DON'T READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE EPISODE "JAILBREAK". I've been taking a break from this story bc I didn't like parts of it. I shouldn't avoid it, though… That was why I didn't write for the first two weeks. I tried to pick it up again, but the words eluded me. Actually, those aren't the only reasons. Anyways, starting off with Steven. I've been reading other fanfics and here's what I've figured out: some people write chapters with no purpose and others are too wordy. Make every word count. A lot of the lines are excerpts from the actual S.U. episode "Jailbreak". I do not own them pls no copyright infringe penalty. Please comment. I will post more with more comments. ALSO I AM NOT TAKING SUGGESTIONS BECAUSE THEN IT WOULD LOOK LIKE OTHER PEOPLE ARE WRITING IT. GIVING A SUGGESTION GUARENTEES THAT I WON'T USE YOUR IDEA EVEN IF I WAS PLANNING ON IT. TNX!**

I taste blood in my mouth… I bolt upwards. Where was I? "Everything… is green?" I murmur. I was inside of a green room. Everything was green. The walls, the floors, the ceiling, the outside hallways – everything. One of the walls was transparent – but still green, don't worry – and I could hear the sharp crackle of electricity coming from it. I tentatively reach out to touch it. My fingers made contact, and I felt a tingling in my hand, but it didn't hurt. I walked forwards, and I went straight through the barrier. Weird.

I started walking to my left, and I saw a small red gem in a cell. "Hello." I said, waving. The red gem looked at me in shock, and then punched the solid green wall. "Great! This is just perfect!" she shouted. "Can I help you?" I asked, reaching my hand out to the barrier. "No! Wait, no don't touch it!" she yelled. Ignoring her, I stuck my hand through it, and I felt a faint tingling. "It's… safe?" she murmured. She reached out towards the barrier, but unlike me, her hand was zapped with energy. She winced and quickly pulled her hand back. "What's going on…?" she muttered.

I hear a faint singing down the wall. Someone else was in here, too. I start to walk towards it, when I hear the red gem yell "Sapphire!" I turn back around. "Is she your friend? I'm looking for my friends, too." I say. "Please! She's all alone; I need to find her!" The red gem desperately says. I stick my hand into the barrier, forming a bridge with my arm. She runs out of her cell, and sprints down the hallway. "Wait for me!" I cry, following her.

We run down a hallway with only one cage at the end. I see a gem inside. "Lapis!" I cry, running towards my best friend. She's sitting with her hands on her knees on the wall of her cage. "Lapis, I can get you out!" I say, reaching my arm out to her barrier. She lifts her head up. "Stop!" she says. "Lapis, it's okay, I-" I start to say, but she cuts me off. "No, please, don't cause any trouble over me! It's bad enough as it is. Just leave me here. I don't want to cause any trouble, but I won't stop you. Go without me. I'll be okay." Lapis says, not meeting my eyes. The red gem sprints back down the hallway, saying "We don't have time for this!" I glance sadly at Lapis. "I'll come back for you." I say, sprinting off to find the red gem. I seem to have lost her. I wander down a hallway, when I hear a voice cutting through the silent air. "We can't leave yet! Why don't you… uh… interrogate the prisoners! And to… check on the cluster! Yes! Those are reasons that exist." Peridot says. I hide behind a corner. I hear Jasper's reply. "You're still loyal to those others, aren't you?! Just admit it! Earth has made you soft and weak!" she replies. "But I'll let you prove your loyalties before I decide what to do with you."

I hear someone singing, and I run over to her cage. It's a girl – a gem –with blue hair and a blue dress. "Hey! I can get you out!" I whisper. I put my hand under the barrier, and the gem walks out of her cell. "Thank you Steven." She says. How does she know my name? It doesn't matter. We run down a hallway. How does she know where she's going? "Ruby!" she cries. I see the red gem from before. "Sapphire!" Ruby calls back. They hug, and Ruby has tears in her eyes. They start to glow and grow together. I watch in amazement as… they fuse! It was the red Crystal gem… I think her name was Garnet. "You're… a fusion?" I say, surprised. She grins. I hear footsteps coming towards us. "Where is she?!" I hear a girl yell. It must be Jasper. "Steven, get to the control bridge and find the others." Garnet tells me. She kisses me on the forehead, and I can see their location. "Woah, future vision." I said. Amethyst had told me about this once. I nod, and run off, leaving Garnet to fight Jasper.

I run to Pearl's and Amethyst's cell. "Steven! You're alive!" Amethyst says, standing up as she sees me. I run up to her cell, and let her out. I do the same for Pearl. "Thank, Rose." Pearl says. "What?" I ask, confused. Pearl blushes. "I meant Steven." Amethyst looks away. We run into the control bridge together. Peridot sits at the desk, muttering to herself. "They can't be serious…" she murmurs. "Peridot!" Pearl yells. She draws her spear, and thrusts it into Peridot's abdomen. A shocked look flashes on her face just before she poofs. "Pearl, wait! She wasn't going to hurt us!" I exclaim, picking up the green gem. Pearl looks away. "We can't trust them, Steven. None of them." She says, bitterness layered in her tone. I look at her imploringly, and she sighs. She walks over to the control panel. "I'll try to turn this ship around." Pearl says, not meeting my eyes. I glance at Amethyst, and she shrugs in response. I hear a crash from the bottom of the ship. I see an explosion out of the corner of the windshield. "Garnet!" I exclaim, peering through the windshield. A giant hole appeared in the palm of the ship. We started to fall back to Earth. The door to the control room opened. I looked over my shoulder. "Garnet!" I exclaimed. "This ship is going down!" Garnet exclaimed. "What about Lapis?" I asked. "There's no time!" Garnet yelled in response. I could see Earth closely. We only had a few moments…

Lapis: I could feel the ship's decent. We were crashing. And I was alone. I braced myself for impact… But nothing could've prepared me for what was to come. The wall I was leaning against shattered behind me. I felt shrapnel shred through my body. I screamed. I was thrown to one side. I landed hard on my face, pain shooting through my neck. I think it stopped… but now I was buried in rubble. I couldn't move. I started to panic; it felt too much like before, back when I was trapped by the Crystal Gems. I yelled, but no one came. I was trapped with my thoughts, my fear, my pain. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the ship exploded. I was thrown to my left side. Chunks of the wall flew around me. I felt the heat of the blast on my back, green flames licking my torso. Tears streamed down my face, but no one was there to see them. I blacked out, but I refused to poof. I had to stay active. I couldn't give up. Never.

After a minute, I came to. I could feel where the exploding wall had bruised my ribs, where the rubble had pierced my body, where the flames had seared my skin. It was unbearable. I grunted, and started to dig my way through the rubble. All I could feel was the overwhelming pain. I lifted a boulder off of my legs, and leaped out from under it. I was free. I looked to my right, and saw Steven, Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl staring at me. I looked to my left, and saw Jasper grinning at me. That meant trouble. I started to fly away, but she grabbed my leg in her iron grip, and pulled me back. "Lapis, fuse with me!" Jasper yelled. She grabbed my face, and held it close to hers. I winced at the smell of her rancid breath. "What?" I asked, confused. Why would she want to fuse with me? She held me tighter. "They've hurt you in more ways than you can count! Besides, how long did they keep you trapped here?" Jasper yells, her spit flying onto my face. She drops me onto the beach. I can barely move. I look at Steven with my good eye. Worry fills his gaze. "Okay." I say, extending my hand to Jasper. A grin covers Jasper's face. "No, Lapis, don't do it!" Steven yells. I ignore him. I have to save him. I can't help him anymore, not like this. I'm too broken to fight. I can do this for him, though. Jasper slowly walks me through the motions of a dance. I notice how gentle she is. She holds my my torso, and I lean backwards. I feel us grow together into… Malachite. We laugh, and summon a hand of water. Jasper wills it to attack the Crystal Gems, but I have different plans. I have the water arm grab our legs, form a chain, and pull us into the ocean. "What?" We say. "I'm done being everyone's prisoner. Now you're my prisoner. And I'm never letting go!" We exclaim. I drag us into the depths of the ocean.


	31. Horrible to You

**I've recently taken interest in reviving this story. I found the early remains of this chapter in the story folder, so I'm posting it as it was written, in an unfinished state, just to let you know that I'm alive and will be attempting to finish the story. In the meantime, check out my Lapidot High School Au, "When the Sun Rises," in order to see how my writing has changed and improved.**

 **Thanks for your understanding. Next chapter will come in the next month. Give feedback on whether you'd like this story to be continued.**

 **-Auremberite**

Lapis: I see her golden eyes staring at me through the green waters. Jasper. I hold on to the chains that keep us bound together. "Let go of me, Lazuli!" Jasper cries, her voice muffled by the water between us. I squeeze my eyes shut. She's pulling on the chains with all of her might, but I can't stop. Not even for a second. "No…" I grunt. The combined effort of talking and pulling is too much, and I'm forced down onto my knees. Tears trickle down my face, but I don't care. "You're really stubborn, aren't you Lazuli? If you insist on doing this, I won't take it easy on you," Jasper said, jerking on the chains. I use my water wings to fly up onto my feet. "I have to do this… I don't care how much I get hurt… You can't hurt me… You can't break what's already broken," I whisper.

Steven: I stare in shock at the ocean. "Lapis…" I whisper. Amethyst runs up to me and hugs me. "We did it! We won!" she yells, her voice filled with glee. I don't respond, but Amethyst doesn't notice. After a minute, a break the silence. "So… what now?" I ask, my voice hollow. Garnet looks at me. "Well, since you don't really have a base, you could stay with us. It would be safe, and that way, we could look for Lapis together." She says. I frown. "Won't you guys just hurt Lapis again?" I ask. Garnet shakes her head. "We've done enough already. We've done too much already. It's been constant suffering for her for too long. She saved us by fusing with Jasper. We could've never fought Jasper like this. She deserves a break. Right, Pearl?" Garnet says. Pearl looks up. "Oh… yes." She says, not concentrating. I don't trust her, but this seems like the best option. "Sure. I can stay here for a bit." I say.

I walk into the living room of the house with Amethyst and the others. Suddenly, Peridot's gem started to glow. She reformed, her eyes wide. "Hey, you're back." I said, smiling. "Steven! We're alive!" Peridot said, hugging me. I hugged her back. "Yeah. You okay?" I say. Her eyes flash. "Ah! Why are we in the enemy's base?" she exclaims. "Steven, when I was aboard the ship, I found out some… valuable information. Homeworld intends to destroy Earth with a fusion weapon called the "cluster

End of Written Chapter


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